A Sporting Look at Corporate Culture

A 2020 Harvard Business School case study sought to relate Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr’s guiding values to corporate culture. The Athletic used this as a lens in its analysis of the controversial Luca Dončić trade this season. While the piece is rooted in professional sports (e.g., success stories of Mike Tomlin, Gregg Popovich, and Jürgen Klopp), there are a host of interesting takeaways for businesses, including how one thinks about company culture and how the conceptual elements interplay with practical realities: “The set of shared values, passed down from the top, is the ‘Big C’ culture, while everything else, the day-to-day interactions, is a company’s ‘Small C’ culture.”