Stoppage and Listen, Part One
“It’s just a game.” I’ve heard that from my wife a lot. Usually, I’ve gotten it when I’m in a foul mood thanks to a Steelers loss. Since it’s the middle of March and the NFL and its players are locked in a collective bargaining death spiral, I’d say the chances that I’ll be hearing that admonishment again anytime soon is depressingly slim.
But back to the “It’s just a game” phrase. It’s definitely true. At the end of the day, nobody is cured of disease or given a roof over their head or clothed against the elements depending on whether or not our beloved Steelers win or lose. Nevertheless, football can offer lessons aplenty thanks to its microcosm of limited actors, distinctive variations in strategy, time and rule limitations, and clearly defined measures of success and failure. It is, in a very real way, a laboratory of human behavior and competitive strategy.
Today and in a few other posts though, rather than extract knowledge from the game on the field itself, I want to take a few moments to point out some nuggets from the collective bargaining negotiations because there are incredibly useful lessons that can be applied to situations that any person might run across. In my professional experience, these are particularly useful when negotiating to purchase or sell a home.
Lesson One: When it gets heated, avoid breathing fire.
Not all negotiations are adversarial. But the truth is that the seller will always want more money, fewer inspections and no contingencies while the buyer wants to spend less and to have plenty of outs if they can’t get financing or it turns out the house is built on a foundation of eggshells. Sure, there are plenty of times when buyers and sellers become great friends and, trust me, it makes it loads easier on the agents and everybody else working to facilitate the closing when that’s the case. But just in case you find yourself in a scenario where everyone isn’t going out for ice cream on a regular basis, the less you speak with the opposite party, it’s probably for the better. In theory, it sounds easy. But I know lots of people that have expressed to me their want to confront the other side, argue persuasively and passionately and are confident that they can convince the other side of the merits of their position. And in their own mind, I know that they intend to be as polite and tactful as possible, but the core message that is going to come through is, “You’re wrong.” And nobody really likes hearing that they’re wrong. And sometimes the other side doesn’t politely and tactfully respond. And now we’ve got an escalating conflict. But keep it simple, to the point and devoid of drawn-out descriptive arguments and it will encourage the other party to act likewise.
Let’s examine in light of the NFL labor negotiations:
According to this insight from ProFootballTalk, during one of the bargaining sessions, Jerry Jones made a comment to the players representatives that “You clearly don’t understand what we’re saying.” and went on to make some thinly veiled threats at unpleasantness directed to the players. Truthfully, I don’t think the negotiations were ever really going anywhere. Nevertheless, the owners had the players at the table and had a chance to create an environment where real, productive, material negotiations could have taken place. But, in my opinion, for the owners to get the players to participate meaningfully in negotiations, the owners had to demonstrate that they sincerely considered the players as equal partners in certain elements of the operation of the league. By insulting the players’ ability to grasp what the owners were offering, any chance of conveying a feeling of sincerity was seriously damaged.
From the players’ perspective, however, they’ve not handled things entirely smoothly either. Despite the raging war between the two sides and the unrivaled popularity of the NFL versus other sports, the league cannot be complacent about continued patronage from the public. It is critical for both sides that in addition to dividing the pile of money to their advantage, that the pile of money doesn’t shrink. So it is incumbent on the players not to pointlessly make idiotic statements that will inflame anger among fans already perturbed by the potential of a damaged or lost 2011 season. Adrian Peterson didn’t get the memo. Or he did and just accidentally figured out the worst possible way to not follow it.
In both cases, the less said by either party, the better. Jones could have skipped the threats and simply walked out. Peterson could have given the usual Bull Durham sports babble, i.e. give a long-winded equivalent of a “No comment”. When in a contentious negotiation, keep it terse. Stick to the material points. Maintain a professional demeanor. This may be the house of your dreams that happens to be owned by some very difficult individuals. But keep in the back of your mind, if you can get it to close, they’re going to move out. Maybe even to Sweden. And you’ll very likely never hear from them or of them ever again.
