Media Coverage

BY GREG KANNERSTEIN '63
Associate Dean of the College and Director of Athletics

Ron Shapiro is a walking testimonial to "The Power of Nice®," the uses of which he eloquently explains in his new book with Mark Jankowski. Ron's ability to get along with others and to conduct "win-win" negotiations has been apparent from his days as Students' Council president at Haverford, through his work as a corporate lawyer and, most notably, as the hallmark of his career as one of the best-known baseball agents. Clients such as Brooks Robinson, Eddie Murray, Kirby Puckett, and Cal Ripken Jr. (who wrote the book's Foreword) have all profited from Ron's approach - and now the rest of us can too.

The Power of Nice® uses catchy graphics, cartoons and plenty of anecdotes to make its points. Ron's win-win theory, which forms the basis for his Shapiro Negotiations Institute, a consulting firm, is organized around "The Three Ps" - prepare, probe, and propose - with a chapter devoted to each. Stories about skydiving (Mark, not Ron), Brooks Robinson's 1976 contract negotiations with the Orioles, real estate deals, Cal Ripken's book, the Middle East peace process and the 1982 Baltimore Symphony strike amply illustrate the authors' negotiating philosophy. Ron also provides lots of counter-examples, times when a win-lose strategy spoiled the process for everyone. He's not afraid to tell one on himself, about his now-regretted handling of a dispute with his former client, Oprah Winfrey.

Shapiro, like his ballplayers, obviously likes to win, but abhors the attitude of negotiators who adopt an "I'll burn that bridge when I come to it" ethos. If you really prepare and listen, you'll find out what the other side really wants, and often find out that it is not incompatible with what you want. Shapiro and Jankowski give lots of practical suggestions useful for any kind of negotiation and provide a primer on how to conduct oneself in difficult situations. You'll find out why the 83-year-old farmer didn't pick up the shotgun on his front porch and fire it at the lawyer who wanted him to sell the family farm. After that it will all be easy.

Ron Shapiro rapped a lot of line drives when he played baseball for Haverford, and in this book he and co-author have another hit. Nice!