What You Can Learn From Under Armour’s Billion-Dollar Coup

Paul Petrone

This LinkedIn post begins with the story of how Nike lost Steph Curry as their sneaker ambassador…and how Under Armour signed him and rose to become a major competitor to Nike as a result. While your organization may not have any “billion dollar employees,” replacing employees is costly. SHRM estimates the cost at 50% of salary and benefits for entry-level employees, and 250% of salary for technical and leadership-level employees. And, as the post demonstrates, it is not only the cost of replacement that needs to be considered. It is the loss of potential.

All too often as change practitioners, we fail to pay enough attention to the cost of employee turnover. When a big change comes along, everyone assumes turnover will occur. The cost is in dollars, and it is in lost potential. Most organizations have their own version of Steph Curry…an employee or employees who are not only strong contributors today but have the potential to become even stronger in the future. And, most organizations don’t plan for what they don’t want to happen during change… the loss of that potential.

Who are the Steph Currys in your organization? How do you help to ensure that they move through the change successfully, rather than moving on? Building “what the organization doesn’t want to happen” into your change management practice can greatly increase the value you bring, and the success of the changes that you support.

https://learning.linkedin.com/blog/engaging-your-workforce/what-you-can-learn-from-under-armour-s-billion-dollar-coup