When we first learned about the NBA’s Business Mentorship Program, designed to provide pro basketball players with the resources they need to develop business acumen and pursue opportunities off the court, we were so inspired by the NBA’s commitment to holistic player development.
Our vision was completely aligned with NBA Player Development: that personal and professional development should be grounded in understanding the unique challenges and aspirations of each person as a full human.
And so, we became teammates, collaborating to grow leaders within the NBA player community—starting with a custom workshop for the Business Mentorship Program.
The Grand was tapped to design a space for players to reflect, connect, and envision a future beyond their athletic careers. We chose exercises to foster emotional resilience, personal values alignment, and strategic future planning. Here's a look at what we covered:
Life Story Icebreaker: Discovering Unique Narratives
At The Grand, it always starts with your story. We kicked off our workshop with an icebreaker, encouraging players to share their life stories (with a Grand twist!) to encourage deeper self-awareness, openness, and connection.
Core Values: Foundation of Personal Branding
When we know our own stories better, we can more easily recognize our core values and better prioritize them. Our next exercise helped players to identify core beliefs that authentically represented themselves. This introspection translated into crafting new personal brand statements.
Emotional Resiliency: Navigating Life’s Valleys
This exercise was crucial for such elite, high-performing athletes! We guided players through an understanding of their temotional landscapes and introduced a burnout formula to help them recognize how to better balance performance with rest.
We then completed The Grand Retro together and evaluated our well-being across eight different dimensions. The Retro allowed players to zoom out and see the current state of their lives with more clarity.
“[The Grand Retro] gave me enhanced focus on the areas that I need to afford more time into.”
—Norense Odiase, Texas Legends Center
Envisioning the Future: Meeting Your Future Self
We led a guided visualization journey, empowering players to connect with their future selves and unlocking insights into their long-term aspirations and inner wisdom.
Actionable Closure: Setting SMART Goals
The workshop concluded with players using the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to tangibly map out their next steps.
