The difference between public humiliation and private coaching

Jan 14

Getting the best out of Kyrie Irving

Context

Since the attack on the Capitol, star Brooklyn Nets basketball player Kyrie Irving has been absent from the team due to ‘personal reasons’. His reasons are widely believed to be related to the attack. He has also been seen in a video not following the NBA COVID-19 protocols and is being investigated for that matter by the NBA.

He also has a history of being outspoken on many issues. He is also one of the most popular NBA players and one of the most dazzlingly entertaining.

Stephen A. Smith, one of the loudest voices in media, has been publicly calling for Kyrie Irving’s retirement, and seemingly trying to publicly humiliate Kyrie. Stephen A. Smith is known to be a bit of a caricature of an outrageously outspoken media figure.

But often times, we let a flawed messenger distract from an important message. So I tried imagining the message conveyed differently. I imagined Stephen A Smith was a life coach and confidante to Kyrie Irving talking to him in private. Trying to coach him with some tough love instead of publicly ridiculing him.

Same words. Same message. Different context.

Part 1

A fictional conversation between Kyrie Irving’s ‘life coach’ and Kyrie

Part 2

The original message from the original messenger

Watch this next video from 05:41 on.

Parting Thoughts

Did the message feel different?

If you were Kyrie Irving, which message would be more likely to reach you?

As humans, how do we get better at separating
important messages from flawed messengers?

Arvind Nagarajan