Negotiate This! by Cohen Herb

Author:Cohen, Herb [Cohen, Herb]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Business Plus
Published: 2007-10-14T14:00:00+00:00

LET’S DO LUNCH

People all wrapped up in themselves make for smelly packages.

Lo and behold, general counsel Walker beat Blake to the punch. Ahead of our timetable by a week, he called to arrange a noontime settlement conference at a Japanese restaurant in Beverly Hills. He said that he and the chief financial officer of the film production company, Eric Neilson, would attend. Participating on our behalf would be Matt Blake and myself.

Upon entering the restaurant, Blake and I were taken to a private room upstairs to meet our counterparts. After the customary introductions and small talk, general counsel Walker took the opportunity to tell us about the virtues of his clients.

According to him, these men were pillars of the community—respected in the movie business and philanthropic as well. Their films had received Golden Globe Awards and even Oscar nominations. But even more noteworthy as he put it, “Every year they are invited to Oscar’s A party—the Vanity Fair bash.”

Both Blake and I were furiously taking notes. Perhaps this served to encourage him, because he went on and on detailing Talbott’s and Jones’s accomplishments. He even said, “They have climbed to the top of Hollywood’s ladder of success.” Indeed, he contrasted their position to that of Ms. Davis, who “hadn’t yet gotten her foot on the first rung of the ladder.”

To put the icing on the cake, he let slip that, “Only a few days ago, a major network TV producer called to do the story of their lives.”

Walker went on like this for about twenty minutes, only interrupting his spiel for us to order food and drinks.

Toward the end of this pitch, the general counsel pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. Looking down at what was written (or maybe averting eye contact from embarrassment), he said, “Because my clients are charitable, they are prepared to offer Miss Davis $40,000 to avoid the hassle of this baseless lawsuit.”

Neither Blake nor I were surprised by this ornery offer. Between ourselves we had discussed how we would respond if this happened.

“Mr. Walker, I empathize with what must be for you an uncomfortable position,” I said. “From what I know of this case and your experience, I think you may even feel personally distressed in having to deliver what I consider such a pitiful and pathetic offer.”

(Please note, that although this is clearly an adversarial relationship, still, I had tried to soften this message by using “I.” “I” is less judgmental than “you,” communicating that these were my personal feelings and reactions.)

“But before I tell you what it will take to settle this lawsuit, permit me to make two comments.

“For one thing, you mentioned that your clients are at the top rung of the ladder of success. Not only do I agree with that assessment, but also I think they’re at an even higher altitude. Piggybacking on your apt analogy, I see your clients on the terrace, in a penthouse residence on the twenty-second floor of an exclusive high rise. Our client, on the other hand, would not even be able to get past the doorman to gain admittance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.