I recently finished tennis superstar Jimmy Connors’ autobiography The Outsider and it contained some great lessons applicable to negotiations (and life).
Connors, who won 8 Grand Slam singles titles and was ranked #1 in the world for 268 weeks – 5th most of any player – was one of the truly greats in tennis who transformed how many play tennis today. He shared many of his life lessons in his blunt and entertaining book.
Here are the negotiation nuggets I took away.
- Perseverance. I can’t remember the number of times Connors was down 2 sets in a best of 5 match and yet still came back to win. Extraordinary perseverance when it looked incredibly bleak. His belief in himself and his laser-like focus on achieving his goal was quite extraordinary. It sometimes seems like you’ll never get the deal done or conclude the negotiation successfully. Perseverance in light of significant setbacks is a powerful quality in a negotiator.
- Practice. No one performs at a world-class level in anything without spending a ton of time practicing – and this applies to tennis and negotiation. Yet when was the last time you practiced a negotiation? We do this all the time in my and my colleagues’ training programs, as it’s a risk-free opportunity to experiment with new strategies and tactics and learn what works – and what doesn’t work. Give it a shot next time you have a significant upcoming negotiation. You will learn a great deal that you can then implement when the stakes really matter.
- Game plan, coaching, and strategic intelligence gathering. Every top athlete spends hours every week getting expert coaching, developing a game plan for their matches or games, and gathering strategic intelligence about their opponents or counterparts. Connors did this in spades. It was quite illuminating to hear him tell of the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents – and to learn how they viewed him and how he expected to counter their moves. There is a great deal of strategy in tennis and, obviously, in negotiation, too
- Mistakes make you better if you learn from them. Connors played some horrible matches and made a lot of mistakes during his career. But he learned from them and constantly sought to improve. Great coaches helped identify his mistakes and correct them. Same applies to negotiations. Lifelong learning!
- The biggest improvements come from playing those who are better than you. “What should I do if I am negotiating against someone else you trained and who also knows the experts’ proven research,” I was recently asked. My response? Be thankful, as it’s almost always easier and better to negotiate with someone who knows what they’re doing than someone clueless and completely unpredictable. Connors wrote that he always learned more and improved faster when he played against those better than him.
- Confidence. Connors during much of his career felt he was the world’s best tennis player. And it was true at times. But not others. Regardless, his confident (and some say arrogant) attitude helped him achieve tremendous success. Bringing a confident attitude toward your negotiations will change your whole persona and how you come across – from what you say, how you say it, and your body language too. And this will impact your counterpart and increase your likelihood of success.
- Reputation matters. Connors was one of tennis’ original bad boys and really got after the umpires and his opponents on the court. Off the court, he had a reputation as a straight shooter. Your reputation matters – in tennis and in negotiations.
Latz’s Lesson: Jimmy Connors secrets to success can help all of us as we negotiate our way in life.
* Marty Latz is the founder of Latz Negotiation, a national negotiation training and consulting company that helps individuals and organizations achieve better results with best practices based on the experts’ research. He can be reached at 480.951.3222 or Marty@LatzNegotiation.com.