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Harvard Grad, Corporate Lawyer, Baseball Super Agent and Negotiations Wizard, Ron Shapiro Has a Simple Formula For Getting What He Wants -- He Listens to People
BY JOHN RIHA
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROCKY THIES
Baseball super agent Ron Shapiro comes striding into the Phoenix Hilton on a cool spring evening, a bit late for his appointment, looking casual but effective in chinos and leather loafers with no socks, a sport coat slung over his back. He has a cellular telephone pressed firmly to his ear, and it’s safe to assume from his cat-who-swallowed-the-canary smile and glimmering blue eyes that he has just maneuvered some general manager into a financial corner and is about to administer the coup de grace. After all, Shapiro is no ordinary sports agent-attorney. He’s well known for orchestrating megamillion-dollar deals for some of the game’s most luminous stars, including future Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., Kirby Puckett and enduring slugger Eddie Murray. And given the fact that spring training is gearing up and signing deadlines are fast approaching, Shapiro probably is putting the finishing touches on yet another lucrative contract for one of his clients. As he nears, you can hear him deliver his ultimatum: "Good night, son. I love you. I love you very much." Then he sits on a nearby couch and smiles. "That was my stepson, William," he explains. "William thinks everything wonderful in life happens after 9:30, when it’s his bedtime." He shakes his head and points at the cell phone. "That’s really my toughest negotiation. I’ve learned a lot from William."
If you expect histrionics and fireworks from Ron Shapiro, forget it. If you expect to see him jump up and down and scream the Jerry Maguire mantra, "Show me the money!" It’s not going to happen. That’s because Shapiro (pronounced Sha-PIE-ro) has a finely tuned set of negotiating principles that emphasize first and foremost, the importance of building lasting relationships. He is, of all things, a humanist, and if he carries the reputation as one of the most effective dealmakers in sports, it’s not because he relentlessly seeks to gain the upper hand. Rather, it’s because he clearly perceives that all the interested parties share common threads: family responsibilities, complex personal lives and business obligations that can affect the outcome of any bargaining session. In this regard, Shapiro, a highly respected negotiator in the corporate, cultural and political arenas, as well as in the world of sports, has a simple precept... he listens.
"The best negotiators listen," says Shapiro. "Many people forget to listen. They think the best negotiators are those who do the most talking. They want to make their point, and as a result, they miss things. I think of the Greek philosopher Epictetus who said, ‘Two ears, one mouth.’ That should give us a signal about what God intended."
Not many agents can claim to put their money where their ears are. Shapiro can. His prowess at the negotiating table is legendary, he’s completed more than $500 million in contracts so far, and the ink has yet to dry on the 1997 season. But for him and his select group of top-drawer clients, it isn’t simply a money game.
"I put the player into the equation as a person," he says, "and try to find out what he wants from life. I’m not successful just because I negotiate a giant contract, but when a player retires from the game and leaves with his financial picture intact and his life functional, then I’ve done my job.
"I am the biggest believer in building the bond between the athlete and the community—something that’s frayed today. But I say that a long-term involvement in the community is a worthwhile intangible that you just can’t calculate."
Even those on the opposite side of the table can’t help but admire his skills. Minnesota Twins President Jerry Bell is quick to offer praise of his contractual adversary. "Ron is just a wonderful person," says Bell. "He’s very bright, and he loves baseball. With Ron, negotiations take place at a very high level. But just because I think he’s a nice gut doesn’t mean I get any good deals or that he’s going to give me any bargains. He knows his business, and he knows the value of his clients."
"I think that he understands for certain ballplayers there’s more to signing with a team than money," adds Bell. "It’s important to Ron that the fit of the player and the community and the ball club works as much as the financial part does. Not a lot of agents consider that, but Ron does."
In fact, one of Shapiro’s most memorable negotiations was with the Twins organization on behalf of Kirby Puckett. In 1992, two years before glaucoma would prematurely end Puckett’s playing career, his contract was up for renegotiation. As Shapiro describes it, "We came in at $35 million for a multiyear deal: the Twins offered $12 million. We began only $23 million apart!" Despite the gulf, Shapiro knew three truths: The Twins wanted to keep Puckett, the fans adored him, and Kirby wanted nothing less than to play for the Twins organization and to stay in Minneapolis.
Although both sides were close to a settlement at $28 million for five years, the Twins called off the negotiations in the middle of the summer. As a free agent, Puckett was now able to explore the marketplace, where considerably more than $28 million was waiting for the 30-year-old star. Yet the bottom line wasn’t the money, and Shapiro knew it.
"We had taken the time to build relationships with the Twins over the years," he says, "and I knew it was time to take advantage of those relationships. So I called Andy MacPhail, who was the general manager, and I said, ‘We’ve got to change the formula here. Let’s take Kirby to dinner at [Twins owner] Carl Pohlad’s house where we can sit down and just talk.’ We had a great night and talked about his family and kids and ordinary things, and everybody was reminded of what a great person Kirby Puckett is. That morning after everyone went home, Andy and I were working on the phone working out a win-win deal for everyone." The final numbers on this smiles-all-around deal? Thirty million for five years, plus tens of thousands of tickets for underprivileged kids and support by the Twins for Kirby’s other community-oriented endeavors.
Although the compensation can reach dazzling proportions, it’s not the first deal that comes to mind for most of Shapiro’s clients. When asked about their agent, one of the words most frequently used is family.
"He’s always been there for me," says Anaheim Angels designated hitter Eddie Murray, a man whose 3,000 career hits and 500 home runs put him in the rarefied company of just two others—Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. Murray has logged 21 years with Shapiro as his agent. "He’s like family. I’ve watched his kids grow up; he’s watched mine. It’s not just a business to him. The first thing on his agenda is to help you make the transition to life after baseball, to make sure you have something after the game. It’s good to know somebody’s there if you need them."
All-Star catcher Dan Wilson of the Seattle Mariners agrees. A highly regarded first-round draft pick from the University of Minnesota in 1990, Wilson sought not just a great contract, but a savvy business partner whose best attribute would be personal integrity.
"We searched around for an agent who would go above the normal expectations," says Wilson, "and Ron Shapiro’s name kept coming up."
"It’s hard to put into words what Ron has meant to our family. He’s just a super guy, but what sets him apart is the quality of his character. He breathes character and integrity. I really don’t like to use the word agent when referring to Ron. Friend is better."
"I know that Ron loves me and my family," says Puckett. "My kids call him Uncle Ron. He’s family. I still call him almost every day. I don’t think there’s a lot of guys who can say that."
If Shapiro invokes familial comforts to his clients, perhaps it is because his upbringing placed emphasis on strong family ties. He was born to a middleclass Philadelphia family, the son of a Russian immigrant. It was, he recalls, a "loving and good home."
My father had only a third-grade education," says Shapiro, "but he was successful in his business and provided well for us. Emotionally, he and my mother provided well for us." Although sports was never more than a passing interest for young Ron, he displayed an early aptitude for leadership.
"I always enjoyed being in a leadership position," says Shapiro. "I enjoyed working with people, and I think I picked that up from my dad."
Shapiro attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania, where he solidified his love of human relations, and where he became, thanks to Haverford’s low profile, Division III sports program, a member of the college baseball team.
"I really didn’t know anything about the game, but I could hit a ball a mile," he says. "I played catcher and right field. When they put me in right field, the coach held up my catcher’s mask and asked me if I wanted to wear it out there. He was afraid of what might happen. But it was a great experience, and I became a devoted baseball fan."
After Haverford, Shapiro sought the challenges of Harvard Law School and graduated cum laude in 1967. The experience was not only a great confidence-builder, but it opened a most interesting door. While studying to pass his bar exam in Maryland, he became convinced that a bar-review course wasn’t being taught as effectively as it could have been. Six weeks after he took the exam, Shapiro initiated his own version of the review course, a program that would go on to become one of the most successful bar-review courses in Maryland. He joined the faculty at the University of Maryland and the University of Baltimore law schools. In teaching, Shapiro found that he could satisfy two of his strongest ambitions—the need to interact with people and the thirst for knowledge.
"It affected me tremendously," he says. "When you teach, you learn. And I was able to master the subjects I taught - things like corporate law, business and securities courses. I wrote and published dozens of law-review articles, as well as two books on corporate and securities law. So I had a real advantage because not only did I practice law, but I learned it very thoroughly."
Shapiro founded his own law firm, Shapiro and Olander, in 1972 and was Maryland state securities commissioner from 1972-1974. Again, fate would open a door. As a securities expert, Shapiro handled high-profile cases involving investment fraud, earning a reputation as a tough and diligent enforcer of the law. Then one day, he got a discreet phone call from Baltimore Orioles chairman Jerold Hoffberger. He told Shapiro that future Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson was tangled up in some bad investments and was nearly bankrupt. Shapiro agreed to help and spent the next eight months extricating Robinson from financial woes. Once back on solid ground, Robinson asked Shapiro to negotiate the last contract of his career. Shapiro was thrilled.
"It was the dawn of free agency," he says, "and agent-attorneys were just becoming part of the process." Other players, attracted by the young lawyer’s adroit handling of Robinson’s finances, sought Shapiro’s help with investments and contracts. In 1976, Shapiro responded by forming a sports-management firm with Robinson as a partner. When the Orioles won the World Series in 1983, Shapiro, Robinson and Associates represented 20 Oriole players—almost the entire team.
Working with Robinson had provided Shapiro a valuable insight: that lucrative contracts and business naivete could be a volatile mix in a young professional athlete. Along with the money, Shapiro realized ballplayers needed guidance, advice and help with planning for life after baseball. Recognizing those needs became a cornerstone of Shapiro, Robinson and Associates, and clients were encouraged to take advantage of holistic services that included counseling on accounting, budgeting, taxes, investments, personal matters and community involvement.
"I’d say about half the high-income earners in professional sports leave the game if not legally bankrupt then almost bankrupt," says Shapiro. "When you earn a lot of money, you tend to live in this celebrity-inebriated world where you can spend $30,000 on a birthday party for your kid. You lose all perspective. Our challenge is to help athletes maintain a lifestyle earning curve that’s realistic."
Maintaining perspective is also a goal for Shapiro, who has four children and three stepchildren and revels in the 160-acre farm he shares with his wife, Cathi. "It’s a good life, and we work hard at it," says Shapiro of his active acreage. "It gives me an opportunity to commune with nature, which gives me energy and recharges me."
If it’s a good life, Shapiro is wise enough to follow the community-service advice he shares with his ballplayers. He has headed more than 25 boards of charities and community organizations, including the University of Maryland Cancer Center, the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and the St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center Fundraising Partnership. His charisma and charm make him an ideal fund-raiser, and he has helped provide millions of dollars in contributions to charitable organizations.
"When you’re blessed with a life that is satisfying and full of love and good things," he observes, "you have a responsibility to share those blessings and to try to give other people the opportunity to have good things. I love people, and so giving my time to help others is easy for me to do."
What’s not easy for Shapiro to do is sit on any laurels. There isn’t a phase of his life that he doesn’t view as a portal to yet another challenging endeavor. His work as an agent-attorney has brought into sharp focus the fundamental importance of good communication skills, in everything from making business deals to family relationships, and how people too often take an aggressive win-lose approach to negotiations rather than trying to establish harmony and trust. His proficiency as a negotiator, his deep interest in human relationships and his love of teaching have coalesced in a new business venture, the Shapiro Negotiations Institute, which he operates with a partner, magna cum laude Harvard graduate Mark Jankowski. SNI offers everything from motivational speeches to all-day seminars that resound with Shapiro and Jankowski’s boundless energy. Although SNI finds appreciative corporate venues across the country, a number of universities have voiced interest in modeling courses based on Shapiro’s negotiation principles.
"It’s interesting," notes Shapiro, "that in many of our schools we study political science, history and sociology, but not negotiation. Negotiation impacts every aspect of our daily lives. Knowing how to negotiate with a spouse or even a recalcitrant child is every bit as important as negotiating with a corporate-merger expert."
To devote more time to SNI and his management firm, Shapiro has relinquished his active partnership in Shapiro and Olander, although he remains counsel to the firm. And he is careful to restrict his high-quality baseball roster to a manageable 30 clients.
Though he downplays the possibility, many think Shapiro would make a great baseball commissioner. His love for the game is unquestionable, as demonstrated by his key role in helping end baseball’s bitter labor dispute. With the 1994 World Series canceled and fan interest in the game dropping, club owners and the players’ union remained at odds over their labor contract. Working behind the scenes, Shapiro was able to parlay his close ties with the players’ association and interim commissioner Bud Selig into conciliations that helped lead into an agreement. Well known as a players’ representative, it was Shapiro’s personal integrity and devotion to the game that made him a mediator both sides could trust.
"Ron Shapiro is one of my favorite people," says Randy Levine, who represented the club owners during negotiations. "He combines phenomenal intellect with great passion and caring for people. During the negotiations, Ron played an intimate part and was extremely helpful in getting a solution to our problems. Even the owners think he’s a superstar and a straight shooter."
"We need to find more meaningful ways for labor and management to solve problems," says Shapiro, "and we need to emphasize common goals that will work toward building the game. Right now there’s a great opportunity to build bridges that will have a lasting effect on the quality of baseball and the quality of the experience for the fan. It’s time to seize the opportunity."
COMING TO AN AGREEMENT
"Negotiations shouldn’t be confrontational," says Ron Shapiro. "They should be opportunities to build bridges and establish relationships. This is especially important in the corporate world, where there are a finite number of opportunities and it becomes increasingly important to maintain positive relationships with good clients." To this end, the Shapiro Negotiations Institute stresses the value of win-win negotiating techniques and building relationships through the negotiating process. Their system is based upon “The Three Ps."
Prepare. Learn all you can about the other party. Research newspaper stories, magazine articles, the Internet and other sources of information to gain insights into that company’s history, policies and tendencies.
Probe. Use the negotiating session as an opportunity to gather as much information as possible. Be an active listener, and try not to react too quickly or say too much. Asking questions encourages the other side to believe that you will not discount their needs in the negotiating process.
Propose. When it’s time to finalize the process, set your aspirations high and make controlled concessions designed to bring both parties toward an acceptable agreement.
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