Michael Cage shares his thoughts on leadership, OKC's growth

On Tuesday, Dec. 17, attendees of the Chamber's 2019 Annual Meeting will be able to hear Michael Cage, Thunder television analyst and former NBA player, share lessons in leadership from on and off the court and how they might apply to Oklahoma City's future success. Recently, Cage shared his thoughts on leadership and Oklahoma City's growth in an interview with VeloCity. 

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Michael Cage, Thunder television analyst and former NBA player, will speak at Annual Meeting on Dec. 17 about the leadership lessons he learned from his time on the court and how they might apply to building Oklahoma City’s future.

VeloCity: Tell us a little bit about leadership influences in your life. Is there someone who's been a tremendous impact on you as a leader?

Michael Cage: Sure. My leadership influences started really young and it was more or less from my dad. My dad just instilled a lot of things in me about standing up and taking the narrow path. He tried to get me to stay away from a lot of things that appear to be easy. And I found that as I got older, other people came into my life and I started to connect the dots. If I could put the most important leadership lesson on one person, I don't think I could. It started with my dad and it's connected with other people throughout my life.

Being in the world of sports, I've been very close to a lot of athletes. And one of them who embodied everything I wanted to be as an athlete, person and humanitarian, is Bill Russell. And he played way before my NBA career started. I really admired the way he carried himself, not only as an athlete but also as a humanitarian. He was an example of someone who started with very little and became this big, almost larger-than-life figure.  To the sports world, he's almost a Paul Bunyan type of legend. All the magnitude of things that he accomplished on the court, off the court and still is contributing in a humanitarian way now, and it's all geared toward the type of leader that he is. Bill Russell stood up for what was right, and he was also this giant of a figure that did something that will probably never be repeated--winning 11 NBA championships.

Wow, that's fantastic. So to transition to that next question, talking about your NBA career, what do you consider your most impactful leadership lessons from on the court?

For me, basketball taught me how to work with other people. It's a wonderful sport that, if you look between the lines, can teach you a lot about people and a lot about yourself. You may be a teacher, or you may be a rookie, and you’re going to learn from each of those roles. In order to be a leader, you have to understand the role of a follower. I honestly believe leadership is taught. It's acquired. It's an art. It's something that you have to grow into.  

"I honestly believe leadership is taught. It's acquired. It's an art. It's something that you have to grow into."

How do those leadership lessons apply to the creation of the Michael Cage Foundation?  What is the mission and scope of that organization? 

Well, I started the Michael Cage Foundation right after I retired, and I wanted to use it as a tool to be able to reach out to young people. After my 15 year NBA career was over, I had learned so much that I said, "Look, I want to be able to share, go back and tell this story. I have to."

"After my 15 year NBA career was over, I had learned so much that I said, 'Look, I want to be able to share, go back and tell this story. I have to.'"

I had to create a platform to be able to do that. When I started the Michael Cage Foundation, we worked with a lot of kids who were basically at-risk kids. It was a mentoring program, where we also sponsor sports teams and programs that kids could otherwise not afford. Basketball is expensive. You've got to have shoes; you've got to have a uniform. And in a youth sport, you pay for everything. It's not like things get donated or whatever when you're in middle school and high school. Especially when you're playing for these travel teams, you basically have to sponsor yourself.

I just wanted to make sure that there was an opportunity for kids to do that, and along the way, pass along the message of what the foundation was all about, in giving back. 

I know that you joined the Thunder broadcasting team in 2014, so you've had a few years in the Oklahoma City community under your belt, and I think you've probably noticed that Oklahoma City is on the cusp of the next generation of growth. What are you looking forward to the most in terms of what's coming, or what you're seeing in our community?

I think too many times cities get stagnant over time. They may put a good message out there, five, 10, 15 years ago, and then they become dormant. This is my sixth year with the team and being a resident of Oklahoma as well, I've found that Oklahoma City is moving, and it is moving in all directions, and I love that.

I love being a part of something that's growing. In the six years I've been here, it is night and day between 2014 and almost 2020. And I think that's terrific.

It's terrific for our young people, it's terrific for our middle-aged people, and it's terrific for our older residents, because they can see the growth. You've just got to have growth. If you don't have growth in a team, an organization, or a basketball team like the Thunder,  you get left behind. Oklahoma City is not being left behind.

"Oklahoma City is not being left behind."

Not only is Oklahoma City with the pack, many times we are moving ahead of the pack. And I think that's what you see right now. Just look at the scaffolding up in the air in downtown. The things that are happening with the convention center, the hotels, Scissortail Park--you can just tell that's going to be an iconic park for Oklahoma City for years to come. And then there’s the Thunder's presence in this community and how much they have really invested back into the community. And it's not just the athletes, it's people like myself in the front office, and the Thunder Foundation, Thunder Cares. They have tentacles all over the state. And I think it's wonderful. 

It's great for a young person that's living here, because you say, "You know what? I want to stay here. I like it here. I want to be a part of something that's growing, and something that's progressive." And that's certainly what's happening here.

I am not a native to the community, but I'm a big fan of Oklahoma City. What I'm seeing is growth in all directions--not just at the top and the middle, but all directions. 

"What I'm seeing is growth in all directions--not just at the top and the middle, but all directions."

You're going to be talking to a lot of people at the Chamber’s Annual Meeting who are business and civic leaders in our community. What's the most important thing that you want that audience to take away from your presentation?

For me, my vision for Oklahoma City is to stay communal, stay vested in the community, stay connected to the community, and to continue to reach for empathy.

I know empathy is a tough word. It's a word that's not thrown around as much. But I think that when we can connect empathy and communal together and to be able to look at the people and say, "Okay, this is what we need to help them over here. We need to help these young people. We need to help these students, high school students, aspiring students, get to their goals or get to school, because all of us are not going to be college-bound athletes on scholarships." To be able to think of others and then to stay connected to our home community, the Oklahoma way, that’s what we're all about.