One theory on the NBA impasse is that it's not the players or owners at fault, but the agents. You know, those middle-aged guys with the $2,500 suits and manicured nails. The agents are holding things up by pressuring players not to accept the league's proposals. A cap on player salaries means a cap on agent salaries as well.
But I recently received a book in the mail that pretty much ruined the premise that all agents are a cross between con artists and the devil. Entitled "Winning with Integrity," the book is by Leigh Steinberg, who is known in the business as an honest-to-Jerry Maguire good guy.My first clue came when he autographed the book with this inscription: To Brad -- all the best. Leigh Steinberg. One page into the book and already we were on a first-name basis.
I started wondering if he's ever represented a sports columnist.
Considering there are agents such as Sal DiFazio (who represented erstwhile Jazz center Luther Wright) and David Falk (who recently threatened to form a new pro basketball league), it's hard to believe there is such a thing as winning with integrity. On the list of trusted professions, sports agents rank up there with telephone psychics and carnival barkers. They're the people telling Kevin Garnett he's being insulted with a $100 million offer and Karl Malone that he lost $200 million by staying in Utah.
Steinberg's book isn't the first of its kind. In 1990, Bob Woolf, the first real agent, wrote "Friendly Persuasion: My Life as a Negotiator." Actually, Woolf was a nice guy, too, but effective. Enough so that the "Larry Bird" exception -- which has turned certain mediocre journeymen into mega-millionaires -- was named after Woolf's own client.
Now comes "Winning with Integrity" -- the next step in negotiating a better deal. It's not about athletes negotiating $120 million deals; rather, it's about negotiating a better job situation for yourself. His theory is if you're the Steve Young of your company, you ought to get paid like it. You may not get Steinberg to act as your agent but at least you can take the home study course.
Steinberg is a moderate. He doesn't believe in athletes holding out. He encourages them to get involved in their communities and establish charitable foundations. He has represented or does represent athletes such as Young, Steve Bartkowski, Troy Aikman and Greg Anthony. If you need proof he's a good guy, just look at the acknowledgments page of the book. It isn't just one page, it's three. He thanks his wife, kids, clients, best friend, sports heroes, college professors, literary agent, Aunt Elanor, cousin David and even his high school social studies teacher.
He even writes blankety-blank" instead of swear words in his book.
Steinberg insists negotiating doesn't have to involve going to war. "The traditional thinking about the negotiating process is that it is this kind of adversarial showdown, a face-off, a matter of breaking another human being, destroying him, wiping his position out, conquering him personally," he writes. "What people who carry this attitude into the negotiating process fail to understand is that war damages and destroys . . . . "
He adds, "Beyond that, a warlike stance is simply an ineffective way to negotiate."
I started thinking of sending my copy of the book to the NBA offices.
Steinberg didn't get rich by being a pushover. This is the guy who made Young so much money he nearly had to quit wearing jeans. The guy who turned him into the $42 million man, back when $42 million was considered unthinkable. But he didn't do it by bullying, he did it by persuasion.
"What you are seeking is the outer limit of justifiable figures," writes Steinberg. So in shaping a deal for Bartkowski, Steinberg asked for, and got, the highest contract in pro football history at the time.
The key, he says, is to change peoples' perception of reality. For example, the management's idea of reality may be a $30 million contract. All Steinberg does is try to convince management that $100 million is cost-effective.
If you're planning on negotiating your own deal, however, keep these things in mind: make sure you can back up your demands, have other options and don't make it personal. Also, consider "add-ons." Don't get stalled by inflexible terms. You may be asking for $100,000 per year and the company can only afford $85,000. But if you can negotiate a company car, a bonus or other perks, then both sides will essentially get what they want.
So if you're looking to improve your position, go ahead and read the book. It may produce a raise. And at the very least, it might help understand where the Mailman is coming from lately.