August 2026

“Stars Want to Work with Other Stars” – Mark Tatum, NBA COO & Deputy Commissioner Let’s face it, your inaction is eroding your team’s success. Mark recently sat down with Senior Writer at Forbes, Jabari Young. When asked to discuss his greatest failure, this is what Mark had to say: “I’m not sure I would say that there was one event. What I would say is my biggest learning was a pattern of waiting too long to make difficult decisions on people. So early on in my career, I would know that someone wasn’t right for the role, but I would keep giving them an opportunity. I would always coach them and give them feedback, but there were times when I just needed to make tougher decisions on people sooner because what happens if you don’t is other people see it, other people get impacted by it; it starts affecting the team. Stars want to work with other stars. And if it’s clear that someone is not pulling their weight, earlier on in my career, I would sort of hope and give them that one more opportunity that maybe things will change. That wasn’t serving them well. It wasn’t serving the organization well. It’s better to have an open honest dialogue with them, tell them they’re not in the right role, and put them in a right role. In some cases, if they must move on, they will. And I’ve seen that time and time again where someone wasn’t necessarily a right fit in the role, but then they go on, and they thrive in a different role outside.” It’s been said that nothing upsets a good performer more than watching a leader within the organization tolerate a bad one. Caring dictates that you act and good leadership positions people for success. Thank you, Mark!