Jennifer Chun

Switching teams isn’t restricted to athletes. Chun recently left Time Warner Cable to hit the court as an NBA executive. She’s charged with driving the growth of the association’s television and digital assets. She scores away from work, too. “Playing hockey or video games with my kids,” she says, is her favorite way to unwind.

What’s the most important aspect of mentoring?

To be an effective mentor, I think you need to be a fan of the person being mentored. You need to root for not just their success but also their happiness, and that’s defined by both their professional and personal lives.

Best trick for maintaining the personal-professional life balance?

As a wonderful mentor once told me, be comfortable with the feeling of failure. You just can’t do everything exactly 100% the way that you would want, and that’s ok.

Your favorite trick for unwinding?

Playing – playing with my kids, playing hockey or playing video games. I need to distract myself in order to turn off my racing brain.