Hank Aaron and The Home Field Advantage

Here is an excerpt from my brand new Streetsmart Negotiation Course. In this program I share my tips, tricks and secrets for successful negotiation.

Brandon: I think it's important. I mean it's, it's hard to nail people down. It is all about knowing the person you're dealing with, knowing the better times to talk, knowing the kind of leeway, other things that are on that person's plate. Remember, you're not always the most important person. Your negotiation isn't always the most important item on their agenda. People don't like to own that, but listen, sometimes you just ain't that important, but it doesn't mean you're nothing just means there's other things that are more important. You gotta respect that and know where you fit into the order of things. 

I remember when I was negotiating with Hank Aaron and we were going back and forth and finally I find myself on a plane and I'm going down to Atlanta.  We went to his BMW dealership and he got the home court advantage. Now we're in his dealership, in his office. I'm on a plane in Atlanta and he's got me. And then all of a sudden we went to some, I don't know, we're in a soul food restaurant in the middle of nowhere and you know, there was kind of a bed and breakfast kind of place, but the food was amazing. So now we're in his environment. Everybody knows him. Everybody knows him, it was like almost like his house and you know, he got the feel. 

He got to see me…when I look back on that, he got to put a light right on me an x-ray light, he was able to see through me. How I was gonna adapt to a restaurant that wasn't that comfortable in. At that time I'd eaten some soul food, but you know, there were only a few white people in the place. Not that that was a big deal, but got to see where I was at, he was just trying to get a feeling for what kind of person he was dealing with in a short period of time. I give him a lot of credit. He was one of the smartest businessman I've met in sports, Hank Aaron. A great homerun hitter, a five-tool player, by the way. He doesn't get all the credit he deserves so much more than being called just a homerun hitter and he's so much more than a baseball player. 

A five tool player, he's got a great arm in the outfield, was a great outfielder, could hit, you know, he was a great on-base hitter. Average can hit for power, but yet, you know, put the ball in play. Just a really, really good, good player. He not only had a lot of homeruns, but he had a lot of extra base hits and a ton of singles. He was just a great hitter and most people they just think it was just a homerun hitter. 

He was a great negotiator and he did really well in business. Besides BMW, he had an Arby’s, he had a whole bunch of other businesses as well. I have a lot of respect for that because he didn't just rest on his baseball laurels. He's done a ton for charity has created so many scholarships, you know, he had his priorities in order. I respect that because not a lot of people ever figure all that out.

Brandon: Yeah, I mean know one career, great career obviously, and then great off-the-field career had an impact on the world, on the field, off the field. One of the greats.

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