Media Coverage
An Honest Negotiator
BY LINDA STOCKMAN-VINES
Ron Shapiro (pronounced Shap-EYE-ro) is a nice guy. He's hard-working, and he plays it straight. In his business - the world of negotiations - that's saying a lot.
Shapiro is a sports agent, corporate attorney and chairman of the Shapiro Negotiations Institute, a training and consulting firm in Baltimore.
His "niceness" stands out in a business legendary for "aggressive, blood-thirsty sharks, who will promise anything to cut a deal," observed Baltimore Orioles player Cal Ripken Jr., one of Shapiro's most famous clients. "I know Ron Shapiro disproves this theory in his profession."
Ripken, now 39, met Shapiro when he was 19 and noticed right away how Shapiro differed from the other agents courting him. Shapiro didn't try to impress Ripken with a limousine ride and a fancy lunch; instead, Shapiro had tuna sandwiches brought in to his plain, but functional conference room.
Shapiro's down-to-earth, honest approach earned Ripken's business, the baseball player wrote in his introduction to Shapiro's book, The Power of Nice: How To Negotiate So Everyone Wins— Especially You!.
"Maybe it was everything he didn't do that told me how he'd act on my behalf. Maybe it was not living up to the myths of his professions but clearly being successful. Maybe it was that he asked me what I wanted and needed and actually listened to me instead of telling me what he was going to do. Maybe it was trust." Ripken wrote.
NO REGRETS
Whatever the cause of his decision to work with Shapiro, Ripken says he's never regretted it.
"Over the years," wrote Ripken, "I've seen every kind of deal-maker there is. I'll take Ron's kind every time. You can get what you want and you can live with yourself."
Living and doing business with integrity are second-nature to Shapiro, he said in an interview. "My view of life is long-term and consistent with that is the principle that integrity has to be an overriding criterion for anything you do."
"Your credibility in business and in personal life is worth more than anything you can put in the bank," he said. "It's all about having the respect of people in the professional and business worlds so you can build and improve on relationships."
Although Shapiro has built a successful career on honesty and integrity, it hasn't always been easy. Early on, he admits, he lost a client or two because he wasn't willing to engage in unethical behavior, like failing to disclose a physical problem of an athlete he represented or withholding relevant financial information during business negotiations.
WILLING TO SACRIFICE
"Integrity means sacrifice," he pointed out, "If an opponent takes me to the unethical outer boundaries, I will go to a walk-away position rather than stoop."
Being considered too honest and ethical has also caused a problem or two along the way. Wrote Shapiro in The Power of Nice, which he co-authored with Negotiations Institute partner Mark A. Jankowski, "I was (talk-show host and actres) Oprah Winfrey's agent in Baltimore and I made sure she got what she was worth as her talent began to manifest itself."
"Then I helped navigate her career toward Chicago as she climbed the major market ladder," he recalled. When other agents, including one highly aggressive one in Chicago began courting Winfrey, she finally bade good-bye to Shapiro.
"Oprah went on to tell me how much she appreciated all the good work I'd done for her; how much she respected me," Shapiro wrote. "Sometime later I read that Oprah didn't want a 'nice-guy agent' anymore. If that's so, I can't argue with the label. I believe you can be a nice guy and get what you and/or the client want at the negotiation table.
"I believe nice people can finish with the head of the pack and can do very well," he concluded.
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