Values, or when the NBA wonders if Victor Wembanyama, the great basketball player, can shake them
“In your obsession with values, you are alone“, declared one day a charming prince to his princess while parting from her. This princess, who became a businesswoman who wants to live according to her values, told me about it and I wonder if companies can fail through too much integrity. This woman of remarkable intelligence and elegance has always remained committed to her ideas. He loved the values of justice, honesty and loyalty and fought to respect them. His confidence challenged me and I wondered then why respecting our values can relegate us to isolation and whether this topic constitutes a threat or an opportunity for companies. Are we becoming so unacceptable in our values that we become busy? At that time I thought and then I forgot to ask him.
Corporate values: a great asset that has become a must-have
This is the headline from the Harvard Business Review: “What Does Your Company Really Stand For?” associated with the victory in Las Vegas of Victor Wembanyama, our basketball Mbappe who reminded me of this topic. The well-known American magazine points out that the alignment of a company’s actions with its values, yesterday a nice-to-have, almost a luxury in the business world, has become a must-have, a necessity. HBR even calculated that a leader’s inequality costs 40% more salary to motivate him. Since then, all of Total’s shareholder investment funds are concerned that P. Pouyannet will demand 40% more tomorrow if he adopts non-fossilized stocks. It also reminds us that alignment between the values expressed and those embodied increases commitment.
For those who don’t know, the NBA is currently upside down on the question of its values. This is since Slam (the US magazine for basketball fans) put Victor on its front page. This French player, as tall as a giant, was even called extra-terrestrial by LeBron James, a star in the basketball galaxy. The NBA thought its values of competition, of winning, of emulation were unshakable, but now the gods of basketball stadiums want to test it.
In fact, every NBA club will ask itself the question about its values this year, because in order to recruit Victor it is necessary to … lose the maximum number of games this season. During the “draft”, the market of talented basketball players from university or abroad who join the NBA, there is a process of redistribution inspired by a Christian commitment. In the draft as in heaven, the first (clubs) will be the last (to recruit new talent). Yes, in the country of capitalism, the highest bidder and where all the winners will be taken, we introduce this redistributive principle to rebalance the forces between the winners and losers of a season in recruiting new participants.
Will NBA clubs succumb to the temptation to sacrifice their season?
So, NBA clubs, however, driven by the deep value of competition, … have an interest in slowing down to stop scoring baskets! Some wonder how to literally sacrifice the current season to have the chance to buy Victor and win the following seasons: the arrival of a player like Victor is a once in a life time opportunityan opportunity that will never come twice.
This temptation is real because Victor, like a Lionel Messi, is somewhat of a prodigal son and prodigy that the NBA has been waiting for. Appearing from nowhere and even visible from a distance with 2.21 m in height and 2.42 m in wingspan, it breaks codes. He’s tall and fast, and that allows him to score insanely high. It is clear that this temptation to lose on purpose to gain a recruitment advantage resembles the temptation a company experiences when faced with an unmissable opportunity that conflicts with its stated values. In the face of this temptation, some will say NO while others will say YES.
In any case, every time values are shaken by the temptation to seize an opportunity, a reflection on its true priorities is set in motion. Faced with a conflict of loyalty between two polarities, when a tension is torn, ” of the game was introduced to I (or vice versa)” as we say in philosophy. Reluctance makes it possible to contemplate a new hierarchy of its priorities.
What is the intention behind the violation of values?
It is there that Victor, by his choice, informs us of another element than strict respect for the presented values. Once he signs his contract, he explains that he is not selling his soul by agreeing to offer his talent to the highest bidder. He will explain to us that at the age of 18, he does not care about the endless debate between passion (guilty) and reason (honorable), between the “id” of the guilty hedonists and the “superego” of the unfortunate which is kind He will tell us that he is worried about something else: the intention of the clubs behind the violation (or the respect) of the displayed values. Echoing Thierry Paulmier’s book, Homo Emoticus, which identifies the four motions of life, perhaps Victor will wonder what moves the club most of all, even to the point of departure from the values of its sport.
He could sign the club that was moved above all by his fight for his survival and which was struggling against his predicted death. Or he will choose a club driven by envy, envy of success and struggling to dominate the ranks. Or else he will say yes to a perfectionist club that strives to turn this sport into an art to make history, a club where the beauty of the game is THE priority. And if not, why not join a club that wants to give and give of itself irrationally, for the love of the game: a club that sees self-sacrifice, unconditional generosity to its teammates, as its success machine.
The future will tell how Victor, the chosen Gen Z the NBA has been waiting for, chooses between the momentum for safety, envy, beauty or love. In the meantime, Madam, if you are reading this post and fear that being attached to your values will bring you bad luck, I will tell you on the contrary that values attract more than they repel. I would add, playing with words a bit, that compromise is not compromise, that a wrong step is not unforgivable and an admitted sin is more than half forgiven.
sentimental to you,
Ludovico
