Negotiation lessons from the NFL, part 1

I love the NFL. For someone who grew up in Britain that is not unheard of (in fact my friend and ex business partner Jason Ing is also a huge fan), but it is unusual.

I love the strategy, the athleticism and the spectacle. And the way that, when it all comes together, a group of highly committed and prepared individuals execute detailed plans perfectly, to fight for inches of turf. American football has also inspired some great movies.

In the pivotal scene of Oliver Stone’s  classic “Any Given Sunday”, head coach Al Pacino’s team head into the locker room at half-time, losing a must-win game.

Pacino plays a veteran coach who has fallen out of favour with the team’s owner. After a season long fight through adversity and conflict the team is riven with internal conflict and falling apart in the crunch game. With the team gathered in the locker room and the season on the line, needing to bring the team together and motivate them to win, Pacino delivers the famous “Game of Inches” speech, driving his team on to the win and setting up his own professional redemption. It’s a really good speech.

The message is this; Football, like life, is a game of inches. You fight for every inch because when you add them up, the inches make the difference between success and failure. The same is true in business.

Every deal you do will be hard won, which means you need to do everything you can to create every last bit of value from every single deal. Those extra marginal gains are the inches you must fight for. As a consultant I work with my clients to ensure that every deal they close delivers more; because every deal can be better.

In business, the inches we fight for are the extra value we negotiate. The marginal gains you make on every deal all add up to game changing value over time. What would 1% more top line value on every deal mean for your business over the course of a year?

Business, like football, requires more than individual ability. Your team needs processes, standards and metrics as well as skills and training. When it all comes together, success follows.

If you’re interested in hearing the speech, check it out here….