<iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-PHTV9K7" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden">
Loading
Skip to Main Content
Product cover image for Masai Ujiri: "Because I'm Black"

Masai Ujiri: "Because I'm Black"

Abbas Khambati; Mazi Raz

Product #:9B21C026
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:General Management, Organizational Behaviour/Leadership
Setting:Canada, Nigeria, United States, 2020
Details:Case (PDF) • 17 pages • 2021-06-11 (Rev: 2021-06-22)

Subjects:

Diversity and inclusionLeadershipPower and influenceGlobalizationBusiness and societyLeadership and managing peopleEconomicsEquity financingFinancingOrganizational cultureOrganizational behaviorManagement

Industries:

Media, entertainment, and professional sports

Geography:

North AmericaAfricaCanadaNigeriaUnited States
Your Price:$9.71

Purchase this material with a free Educator Account and enjoy more benefits:

  • Free Educator Copy
  • Free Teaching Notes
  • Build your coursepack
  • Discounted academic price

Masai Ujiri, the President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors (Raptors), had an illustrious career on and off the basketball court; he had not shied away from making bold, even controversial, decisions; and he had led his franchise, the Raptors, to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Championship. Following the Raptors’ clinching the NBA Championship in 2019, Ujiri faced an altercation with an Officer in Oakland, California. At the height of his success, Ujiri explicitly called out his mistreatment because of his being a Black man, highlighting the racism prevalent against Blacks and minorities. Contemplating his future as an executive, Ujiri would need to decide whether to continue, and if so, how to marry the worlds of sport and activism, charting his own path for social change.

Learning Objectives

This case was designed for use in undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on organizational behaviour, leadership, diversity and inclusion, power and politics, and the business of social change. Through focusing on moments in Ujiri’s career in which he was faced with ambiguities, unease, injustice, and significant societal and personal implications, discussion of the case will help students to develop their capacity to
  • prepare for difficult and ambiguous situations
  • assess how social inequalities might present themselves, even at the height of someone’s success;
  • respond with authenticity;
  • use ambiguous situations as developmental opportunities; and
  • use difficult situations to redefine their role as leader and expand their bases of power.
Loading
Case Study: Masai Ujiri: Because I'm Black (English version) | Ivey Publishing