Misaligned Values
Episode 27: Nope of Montgomery & Co. was released July 15th. In it, the ladies discuss Beyonce’s most recent single, “Break My Soul,” and how many people are viewing it as a sign to release whatever it that may be doing damage to their spirit. One of the lines in the song suggests to, “release your job.” To which, in a current period of time dubbed “The Great Resignation” sees more people leaving their jobs at what feels like a whim. Nicole cautioned for those who chose to do so to have a plan. “If you were looking for a sign, Beyonce was it!” Renee added. It was a jovial conversation and Snook chimed in with a gem of a thought: “This is the problem with work—your values may not be aligned with your organization’s values.”
Let’s focus on the core concept presented by Snook. There are times where two entities—in this case, labor and management—who enter an agreement in, well, agreement that both employer and employee have the same values and objectives.
Applying this to sports, labor and management are described as player and team. Sports tells us that everyone in the franchise shares the same goal of doing their best to put the team in position to win a championship. What sports does not say with the same conviction is that not everybody’s priorities are ranked the same way. Some on both sides of the labor-management divide prioritize money over team chemistry. Teammates both in the locker room and the front office come and go. This is the nature of business that everyone knows to be a necessary part of life.
Because priorities can differ, values can change and be misaligned in some way. In sports, this results in players, coaches and execs moving on via trade, not renewing contracts (free agency) or firing (waiving). With the recent news in the NBA’s offseason period regarding superstars and trade requests, as well as franchises looking to move their better layers, values can change and then someone needs to, “release their stress.”
Connect Snook’s thought to other aspects of life, as well. Longtime duo in podcasting and now late-night commentary TV Desus and Mero announced that they are breaking up. This ends their Bodega Boys podcast as well as their show on Showtime that’s been on air between that network and ViceLand before it for the past four years. The sudden split took Twitter by storm—most people caught completely off guard by the seemingly close pair breaking up.
Bodega Hive: The illustrious @desusnice and @THEKIDMERO will be pursuing separate creative endeavors moving forward. #DESUSandMERO will not be returning to SHOWTIME. It’s been a good run, fam.
— DESUS & MERO on SHOWTIME (@SHODesusAndMero) July 18, 2022
Having just seen them appear on Showtime Basketball’s “All the Smoke” podcast with former NBA vets Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, and how they were their usual, comedic selves, does make this divorce appear out of nowhere. I thought they would continue to grow the brand for years to come. But this is a case of misaligned values. Now at the time of this post, the details and reasons why Desus and Mero split are unknown to the general public. But it can be assumed that there was a shift in alignment as to what those two prioritized as goals and values. Neither side has offered much beyond tweets confirming that it is over between them. Mero told fans to, “enjoy the archives,” while Desus shouted out their fans for supporting them.
Just as Snook said in the podcast, hopefully the Bodega Boys have a plan for where their now separated paths will take them going forward. It certainly is a disappointment to the how’s fans that this is the end of the duo. But we also hope that neither’s soul is nor has been broken by whatever caused them to split.
Check out Montgomery & Co. on Spotify. Episode 27 also includes a terrific interview with legendary Black journalist Terrence Moore as he joins the ladies to discuss the methods Major League Baseball used to lower the percentage of Black players throughout the years.