I don't normally write about the Football here (despite being one of my main real life hobbies), but it got me thinking last night about the meaning of money and wages. The reason for this was the performance of the French team against Switzerland. Both sides full of highly paid footballers - albeit not playing for money in an international tournament.
One of the main and best players on the French team was Paul Pogba, he even scored a sumptuous goal to put France up 3-1. However, even though he played quite well, he was very fitful. Indeed the last Swiss goal was caused by him losing the ball.
The whole French team could only really be bothered to try for a few minutes in the second half, they went 3-1 up but it was not enough in the end. The Swiss soldiered on.
The reason I mention wages is this is also, for Paul Pogba, the same criticism he gets at Manchester united, in that he rarely plays to his potential. No matter how much money, or in international matches, fame and reputation, is at stake, he can't motivate himself.
For businesses, this is a sound reason not to overpay salaries or to expect people to transform themselves into better workers because of pay rises. Much better is performance based pay that might impact behaviours, but the Euro's show us that even this is a very hard thing to achieve.
