Former professional player and current entrepreneur Marc Gasol headlined a new edition of AIJEC’s #DinarDeFutur in a conversation with journalist and board member Víctor Costa. During the event, Gasol shared reflections on leadership, teamwork, competitive pressure, purpose, and his transition from elite sports to the business world.
With an approachable and honest tone, Gasol revisited some of the most important moments of his sporting career and the lessons learned after more than two decades competing at the highest international level. An experience that, as he explained, has allowed him to understand that “success is not only about winning, but about the process of getting there.”
One of the central themes of the conversation was the importance of the collective. For Gasol, winning teams are built through individual sacrifice for the common good and through clear leadership capable of setting the direction. “A leader sets the path the team must follow,” he stated, constantly drawing parallels between the dynamics of a professional locker room and those of a company.
The former player also reflected on managing pressure and mistakes. “We put pressure on ourselves,” he said, explaining that his way of handling it was to train harder, work more, and study opponents more thoroughly. In this regard, he defended the need to normalize mistakes within teams: “We make mistakes constantly and we have to learn how to manage them. Failing is not a mistake; the mistake is not doing the work.”
During the conversation, Gasol shared with the more than fifty young entrepreneurs attending his experience leading Bàsquet Girona, a project he heads with the goal of building a sustainable long-term model. The club currently has 40 teams, and its focus is on creating infrastructure with sporting, economic, and social impact for the city and the region.
The social dimension of sport also played a prominent role in the discussion. Gasol recalled the origins of the Gasol Foundation, launched together with his brother Pau Gasol and aimed at promoting healthy habits among children and young people. “Our parents come from the healthcare field, and we have always had this spirit of service to society,” he explained.
Along the same lines, he highlighted the role of clubs and athletes as social role models for children. For this reason, players at Bàsquet Girona actively participate in community-based social initiatives.
Finally, Gasol addressed the difficult process of retirement from professional sports and the need to find new personal and professional purposes once a high-performance career comes to an end. “It is a non-linear process,” he acknowledged.
The session left attendees with multiple reflections applicable to both the world of sports and business, centered around ideas such as a culture of hard work, collective effort, adaptability, and building projects with impact and purpose.