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NEGOTIATE LIKE THE PROS
A Top Sports Negotiator's Lessons for Making Deals, Building Relationships, and Getting What You Want

"What do Don King, Drew Rosenhaus, Scott Boras, and Ron Shapiro all have in common?
They are superstar negotiators who get great deals for their sports clients.
Ken Shropshire, who has some great sport stories of his own, uses the best practices of these masters to show everyone how they, too, can become big-league negotiators at work, at home, and in their communities."
- G. Richard Shell, author of Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

Do you want to be a better negotiator? Do you want to negotiate with the same success and confidence that you see among the professionals who handle the business of teams, leagues, athletes, and others in the sports pages and on ESPN on a daily basis? If you want to become stellar at deal making, building relationships, persuasion, and even leadership, than this is the book for you - sports fan or not.

Written by top sports negotiator Ken Shropshire, director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, NEGOTIATE LIKE THE PROS: A Top Sports Negotiator's Lessons for Making Deals, Building Relationships, and Getting What You Want (McGraw-Hill; December 2008; Hardcover: $19.95) tells the stories behind some of the most sensational sports deals of all time and extracts powerful lessons on the skills people need to master to develop a highly-effective, systematic approach to deal making.

Few authors are as qualified to guide readers through negotiating like the pros as Ken Shropshire. From the Fortune 500 to the NFL, from Don King to big city mayors, Ken has negotiated major sports deals across the country and around the world. He's also one of today's most sought-after negotiating coaches, with clients ranging from the National Collegiate Athletic Association to IBM. As director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, he examines the sports industry in the same manner that financial institutions, manufacturing, or the real estate industries are traditionally explored at major business schools.

Here's what the book delivers:

• Chapter 1 - Prepare with Passion: focuses on the most important element in any negotiation - preparation. Sports example: Peter Ueberroth's negotiation with Fidel Castro during the Soviet boycott of the '84 Olympics.

• Chapter 2 - Stick With Your Style: guides readers through both understanding their most comfortable bargaining style as well as how to use it to their advantage. Sports example: Why NFL coach Bill Walsh stresses sticking with your style. 

• Chapter 3 - Set Goals and Aim High: relays the value of establishing goals and making them a regular part of the preparation process. Sports example: The $52 million deal Daiuske "Dice-K" Matsuzaka cut with the Boston Red Sox in 2006.

• Chapter 4 - Seek Leverage: explores how lying and negotiating somehow go hand in hand and helps combat against the topic that is lied about most - tales told to create leverage. Sports example: The astonishing three-way negotiation between Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, and the President of Zaire that Don King used to pull off "The Rumble in the Jungle."

• Chapter 5 - Focus on Relationships and Interest: takes readers beyond the monetary side of deals and focuses attention on the other benefits that flow from them i.e. a long-term relationship with a vendor or boss. Sports example: Yao Ming's move from China and David Beckham's $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

• Chapter 6 - Embrace the Bargaining Process: guides readers to the mental level of enjoyment that they should try to achieve in negotiating.

• Chapter 7 - Handle Other People's Business: shows how to negotiate on behalf of a company or individual as well as how to manage someone negotiating on your behalf. Sports example: Player-agent negotiations and relationships.

• Chapter 8 - Know Your Audience: prepares readers for a negotiation that takes place in full view of the public from a small company setting to the national stage. Sports example: Steroids in baseball and the Michael Vick dog fighting saga.

• Chapter 9 - Negotiate Like a Pro: ties all of the elements together and assists readers in mastering those skills.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kenneth L. Shropshire is the David W. Hauck Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, academic director for Wharton's Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program for NFL Players, and a Wharton professor of Negotiating and Dispute Resolution. He is also the former president of the Sports Lawyers Association and has been a consultant to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Football League, and Major League Baseball. Shropshire has provided commentary for a number of media outlets including Nightline, CNN, the New York Times, USA Today, National Public Radio and Sports Illustrated. For more information on Kenneth Shropshire visit: www.kennethshrophire.com

NEGOTIATE LIKE THE PROS: A Top Sports Negotiator's Lessons for Making Deals, Building Relationships, and Getting What You Want by Kenneth L. Shropshire; McGraw-Hill; December 2008; Hardcover: $19.95; 208 pages; ISBN-10: 0-07-154831-1; ISBN-13: 978-0-07-154831-9.

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