I played in the WNBA during the summers when I was doing the joint JD/MBA program. It was a juggling act, to say the least. In my final year, I went up to the training camp and I got waived. I’d played professionally for six years and felt like I’d improved as much as I could. I’d had a great experience and knew that was it for my playing career. I got my degrees, passed the bar, and started at a corporate law firm in the fall.
Editor’s Note
In this ongoing series from Stanford Business magazine, we ask Stanford GSB alumni to reflect on one of their biggest business failures and what they learned from it.
Kate Paye, JD/MBA ’03, has been the director of Stanford women’s basketball since April 2024. She joined the coaching staff in 2007 and played on the team for four years as an undergraduate.
After six months, I just knew the corporate law track wasn’t for me. I looked at the partners and thought to myself, “I don’t see myself doing that in seven years. Why am I grinding it out here as an associate?”
Deep in my heart of hearts, I had always felt that coaching was something that I might want to do. I was a student of the game and I understood the game at a level that was probably much better than my talent.
Without even having a job lined up, I told the law firm I was resigning so I could be a college coach. I eventually landed a job at Pepperdine as an assistant coach. I probably took a two-thirds pay cut to make this move. I was 30 at the time. I had a lot of people tell me, “What the hell are you doing? You have these degrees from Stanford — you’re going to use them, right?”
I was at Pepperdine for a year, then San Diego State for two years, and then got asked to be back on staff at Stanford with Tara VanDerveer. That was 18 years ago.
It was a really powerful lesson that helped me be a better coach and a mentor to the women on our team. They are bright, they’re motivated, they major in all sorts of different things. They have aspirations to play in the pros or play in the Olympics, but they also know that there is life after sport.
One thing that has always stuck with me from my classes at the GSB on leadership and building effective teams is the idea that when you are a leader, you have to be your authentic self. You want to project confidence and be well-prepared. But it’s okay to be vulnerable. That’s something I try to bring to the gym every day, and I think it helps the women on our team.
You have to do what’s right for you and listen to your gut. You have to follow your own path, your own journey, no matter who questions you, who doubts you, even if it’s people that you really respect. I’ve drawn on that lesson as I navigate this transition, coming in after a legend. Obviously, I’ve learned a lot from Tara. But stepping into this role, I have to be myself. — Told to Dave Gilson
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