A few years ago Sarah and I got sucked into the world of Sons Of Anarchy on Netflix.
We weren’t huge on the violence and all that, but something pulled us in.
The family dynamics. The friendships. The “us against the world” mentality. And for me it was even a little about learning about business and life. How to turn impossible situations around.
There is one situation that really stands out even now, several years later.
I think it’s the fourth or fifth season.
Opie sacrifices himself in jail and gets killed. Jax has to look on as his best friend is beaten to death.
Afterward, Jax meets with the man responsible for organizing the murder.
This is a critical point for Jax. He’s feeling incredible rage. This man just killed his best friend.
Instead of raging, however, Jax looks for a point of leverage. The man doesn’t want to let Tig get out of jail. Jax convinces him to do just that. He says that with Tig on the outside he can better operate his club and that will be beneficial to Jax and the other man as they work together.
The guy agrees and Tig and Jax are released. And the guy compliments Jax for his resourcefulness and finding leverage when he seemingly had none.
The Importance Of Leverage
In business there are a lot of times when you’re going to have little to no leverage.
When you’re working with a very successful vendor. They have all the leverage against you. They can determine price. They don’t have to budge. Your deal is probably not very important to them. They don’t need you.
Or hiring a quality person that you really can’t afford. They have all the leverage to demand what they want. Or maybe it’s a current employee that wants a raise. And you really don’t have anyone to replace them.
Maybe you want to form a strategic partnership. You know it would be great for your business. Maybe it’s just okay for the other business. That business will have all the leverage to make demands. Probably a bigger share of the future profits.
If you can’t find the leverage you’re going to lose out.
On money. On opportunity. On everything.
The best, like the fictional Jackson on Sons Of Anarchy, are able to find their leverage.
Here are a few tips for finding yours.
Let Go Of Your Emotion
Sometimes when you feel like you have no leverage you’re going to act like a cornered animal. You’ll go to extremes to try and get out of the situation. To try to flail and swing to get back some kind of control.
That’s a last ditch effort. And let’s say a deer is backed into a corner against a pack of wolves. Even if that deer kicks and flails it’s probably going to be killed and eaten.
It rarely, if ever, comes to that point in business and in life. There is almost always an angle you can find, but the key is keeping your composure. Just like Jax did after his best friend was killed. Had he lashed out against the other guy he would have simply been shot and killed.
Look At It From The Other Point Of View
This is really the key to the whole thing.
It’s simple, but not easy to execute.
When you feel like you have nothing. No leverage. Nothing to offer. You have to look at it from the other person’s point of view and what would motivate them to give up some kind of leverage.
If you only look at it from your point of view and only how you can benefit the other person will laugh at you. They already have what they want. They’re not going to give something to you out of the goodness of their heart.
Jax put himself in the other guy’s shoes. He knew that the other guy wanted Jax and his crew to run their schemes to maximum profitability. Jax knew that the only way he could do that is by having his entire crew.
The other guy immediately agreed.
Maybe you’re looking at a great potential customer that has all the leverage to negotiate price with you. They keep pushing and pushing for a lower price.
Instead of giving in you could tell them that to get your best effort you need to have the incentive of a certain price. Any lower and you and your team simply won’t have the incentive to provide a good service. You won’t work as hard. You may even feel resentment against the client.
That oftentimes will convince the client to pay your price.
In the NFL, players often have little leverage. Rookies sign scaled wage contracts for four years. And the team can franchise them for up to three years after that.
The average NFL career is 3-4 years. Teams can control a player for 7 years.
No. Leverage.
And if a player signs a long-term contract they’re locked in. Again, no leverage.
Other than to hold out.
That’s what Carson Palmer did with the Bengals in 2011. He made the (impossibly difficult decision) to not play. He was ready to consider the possibility of never playing football again.
Then he waited.
The Bengals drafted a QB. That QB did a few good things.
Then the Raiders’ QB got injured and they reached out to Cincinnati offering a trade.
It was now a win-win for everyone.
The Bengals were gaining nothing from Carson sitting at home. Now they get two draft picks.
And Carson was free to play for another team. He found his leverage. It wasn’t easy, but he found it.
Don’t Threaten
This kind of gets back to emotion.
When you feel like you have no leverage another possible reaction is to simply threaten.
Jackson could have done this. He could have said that he was going to kill the other guy or something like that.
When people have all or most of the leverage they don’t care about threats. They know it’s a last resort and that you’re desperate. It almost gives them a good feeling because they know you’re down to your last straw and ready to just give up.
Let’s say a former client isn’t settling up their bill. They owe you money. Many businesses would threaten to sue. Some would even sue. They’d throw good money at bad along with an incredibly amount of energy. All to likely get nothing in the end.
People don’t respond well to threats.
Look for other alternatives.
Conclusion
You’re probably in situations of leverage all the time. Both as the one with little and the one with a lot.
In either case, it’s best to look for mutually beneficial ways to move forward. To even things out a little bit so you benefit.
Hopefully the tips above can help you out in your current struggles or in future struggles.
