Business Advice from Ballers on HBO
By: Marc Marling
Tags: Failure, Overthinking, Entrepreneurship, Business Advice, TV

I have a confession to make. I have a bit of an obsession with a TV show called Ballers. Never heard of it? Well it just finished a five season run on HBO starring Dwayne Johnson and Rob Corddry among a cast of characters. I don’t binge watch much but this show always got me after catching an episode on an airplane once. I realized I couldn’t wait each week so would wait for the entire season to come out and then would watch it on demand and run through the whole season.

Basic premise — Dwayne Johnson stars as former NFL player Spencer Strasmore, player turned financial manager for players who over the various seasons winds up in a variety of roles tied to sports and entertainment figures. What caught me initials was that Johnson played this one straight — meaning not in his “Rock” persona, raised eyebrow, superheroish character we might come to expect. Instead, I really appreciated him showing acting chops — expressing vulnerability while maintaining NFL player swagger. Seriously, over the seasons we saw financial ruin, pain management turned into drug addiction, male inadequacy tied to male sterility…I mean wow, whenever did you expect to see such portrayal by the Rock? Let me say, he does it well and convincingly. Rob Corddry, whom I have loved since the Daily Show likewise shows he is an accomplished actor as Strasmore’s business partner Joe Krutel as well as does John David Washington as wide receiver Ricky Jerret (guess the influence of dad Denzel helped) and many others round out the show well.

My point however isn’t to provide a television show review. Instead, I am captivated by the fifth and final season and how it applies to entrepreneurs. As noted above, Strasmore is a complex individual. He has tasted success, playing at the highest levels of competitive sports and then found himself a little lots when faced with failures, lot of failures over several seasons. Each time, there was a glimmer of hope and possibility for greatness once again and that kept him getting back up and out there. More than once he bet the farm and more than once the farm was lost but Strasmore keeps learning season after season and he also keeps his eye on his one bedrock principle — in his case it is to serve the players better than he was served while playing the game. Whether that means taking on the NCAA, agents, endorsement deals or the all mighty NFL, each time Strasmore picks himself off the ground and gets back out there to try again.

Entrepreneurs can learn a lot from watching this show. Sure the dollars may be bigger and the lights might burn brighter (plus lots of fancy cars and homes and scantily clad women abound many episodes) but no matter what business you are in, the stick-to-itiveness is contagious. No doubt that many of Strasmore’s downfalls are his own doing and the squirrels do get in his head sometimes but that is what is so real about it. We all Monday morning quarterback ourselves (pun intended) and we all listen to the squirrels too much from time to time. This despite all the business gurus out there telling us to ignore such voices and to get back up after each failure.

It’s one thing hearing gurus tell you on podcasts, in Medium articles, in their books etc. to look out for the squirrels in your head, and the naysayer telling you that you aren’t good enough or countless excuses keeping you from “doing”. It is something else watching it unfold on screen in the physical specimen that is Dwayne Johnson. If we know him from his typical genre, we expect him to get the girl and save the day, all without breaking a sweat. In Ballers we literally see him sweating it out often waiting for the other shoe to drop and when it does and when he falls, watching him get back up, lick his wounds a bit and then get back to it. Seeing it on the screen makes it more real and I believe provides valuable lessons in business such that this show should be required watching for business school students!

I don’t want to give away the show and its well-conceived final season, so entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs out there, watch Ballers from the beginning (it streams on HBO) and let me know your thoughts. I believe you can find lessons in each season and apply it to your lives and business.