Victor Wembanyama’s Management Lesson

Victor Wembanyama, aka “Wemby,” suffered a painful defeat with the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.

Although the Texans led for 72% of the five games played, they lost the series 4-1. On a more personal level, Wemby saw his star dim somewhat in the U.S. during these Finals, due to two criticisms: The perceived roughness of his play and his inability to maintain the same level of performance throughout entire games.

He did not take offense at these new criticisms. Quite the opposite: After Game 5, he openly acknowledged his shortcomings.

“I wasn’t ready to win a ring. That’s obvious. I’m going to work even harder, of course, to become more resilient. And above all, to keep a clear mind and stay in control of the game at all times. There are too many moments when I’m passive, too many moments when I don’t have the control over the game that I want to have. And that costs us.

What frustrates me is that there will probably be a hundred games to play before we can get back to the Finals. I’ll have to live with that, try to slow down, be patient, and do things the right way over the next hundred games.“

Image created with ChatGPT and Midjourney – (CC) Christophe Lachnitt

He immediately drew the lessons from a failure he called “the greatest lesson of my life, the biggest learning experience.” There is little doubt that his clarity and humility will make him better in the years ahead.

At the opposite end of Wemby’s approach are sports stars who never seem to question themselves in this way. The difference between their mindset and Victor Wembanyama’s shows that ego is a two-faced force: It can elevate those who treat it as a challenge to become the best version of themselves, and it can diminish those who see it as something they are owed.

Paradoxically, the people who end up with statues once their careers are over are often the ones who never believed, during those careers, that talent alone entitled them to special status.