By Raamon Newman & Paolo D’Angelo Co-founders New Mavericks

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Deal Breaker #1 Commanding what you want to see happen

at the opportune moment

Deal-making is like music—each deal has it’s own rhythm, chemistry and timing.

When all the elements appear to be in place, one shouldn’t hesitate in taking the

reigns to lead the deal to a WIN-WIN-WIN melody of fulfillment for all; WIN for

the end customer, WIN for the other party and WIN for YOU! Like music, if it

feels good on the deepest level of feeling, where what your mind thinks and

heart feels are one in the same, then you know it’s the right time and going to

work out long term.

Taking the Royal Path

Having the right energy around a deal is a tell tale sign your on the right path.

The right energy means it feels right on the finest level of feeling and you trust

yourself and the other party. These are the primal cues, beyond the obvious

facts, that it’s the right time to jump on and ride the deal to completion, like

catching a wave just before it peaks to get maximum momentum.

Calmness and balanced emotions makes one a good negotiator. This means

you are not overly eager. Not overly eager you maintain orderliness and are not

as attached to a fixed outcome. Being overly eager you lose yourself, the big

picture and get overshadowed. Being patient means you are in command and

see more of the variables. Not patient means you’ll want to force things, which

may lead to mistakes.

A deal shouldn’t go too fast, where you may miss an important variable, or too

slow, where things stagnate. Take the royal path, the path that is sustainable for

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everyone involved long term. The outcome of the rabbit and tortoise fable hasn’t

changed yet!

Over Analyzing Weakens your Ability to Command a Deal Getting caught up in too much analysis delays and weakens your ability to

command a deal and influence the future. Over analyzing thoughts and actions

keeps us small. Progress requires momentum. We default to analyzing too

much due to lack of coherence and orderliness in the mind, so we don’t see

what is best for the bigger picture.

Top CEO Uses Silence to Feel if a Deal is Ripe

One of our top client’s, who leads a $6 billion revenue company—was awarded

CEO of the Year the first year we worked with him for his ability to create

successful mergers and acquisitions. He gauges the ripeness of a deal by being

very quiet within himself during a deal meeting. This approach is not to make

the other party sweat, but to assess within him self how he feels about the

people leading the company and the timing.

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“Two of our senior team and I organized

the biggest deal in our Corporate history.

This involved long hours, tight time

frames and multiple go/no go hurdles

etc…and multiple possibilities for stress.

Despite this I personally felt like I was the

eye of the storm…all was calm and

relaxed!”

Mark Waller, CEO EBOS Group, New Zealand CEO of the Year 2010

How Steve Jobs Seized Command of the Pixar Deal

Another classic example is when Steve Jobs

bought Pixar. The CFO of Pixar was using a

delay tactic of not showing up on time for the

crucial negotiation meeting. At the exact time

the meeting was meant to start, with the CFO

not present, Jobs seized the opportunity to

lead the discussion and set the tempo of

negotiations. The end result—he acquired

the company for a third of its value and the rest is history. Pixar is now the most

prolific animation company in the world.

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Deal Breaker #2 Being too rigid and overly attached to a outcome

This deal-breaker is due to fear of the unknown, which often leads to a tendency

of overly controlling things. Fear of the unknown is a stress that blocks unifying

differences, which is ultimately what good deal making is all about. Removing

and dissolving this stress diffuses attachment to a fixed outcome and allows a

deal to unfold naturally and fairly for all parties.

Attached to some outcome is due to lack of quietness in the mind and ignorance

of not understanding the nature of life, which is progress and evolution for

everyone. Attached to a fixed outcome you are over thinking it and trying too

hard, which is dangerous because what you get by force you lose by force in the

end.

You only have control over your actions

The underlying nature of any deal is the synthesizing of two realities: 100%

your effort plus 100% how nature/environment/others respond to your effort.

You only have control over your actions, not the ultimate fruits of your actions.

You can only control aiming the arrow, pulling it back, and then letting the arrow

fly. After that, hitting the target is in the hands of forces often beyond our control.

Understanding this allows you to let go and allow things to unfold knowing

you've done everything in your power to create the best outcome for all. •

Top Film Directors Love The Unknown

Having attended two Directors Guild of America nominee discussions, I noticed

there is one common trait that top directors like Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, Tom

Hooper, Ben Affleck and Katherine Bigleow all have. They all trust the unknown

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– the field of all possibilities – to work out the best way to shoot a scene. As

they move into a day of shooting, they often don’t know how it’s going to work

out yet through a bit of trust in their abilities and openness to the field of all

possibilities, they capture the best scenes. You’re the director of the deal, set

the scene as best you can then be open to greater possibilities spontaneously

coming to the surface that maybe even better than what you originally

conceived.

Advice from Hollywood’s Best Deal Maker Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media, who has

done deals that have financed more than 200 films

earning over $17 billion in revenue, gives some great

advice in this article, His advice: never give up, be

flexible, don’t be bound by a plan when an

opportunity demands you shift direction and never make a deal too good for

yourself, it will hurt you in the long run. This means that it’s got to be a WIN for

the end customer, WIN for the other party and a WIN for you. There has to be

fair value in the deal for everyone.

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Deal Breaker #3 Not having a higher purpose behind your deal making

Having a higher motivation and purpose behind you’re deal making ensures you

are doing things for the right reasons, not just base money reasons. Be clear

what is motivating you and this motivation is not based solely on self-centered,

ego-driven motives that may be at the expense of others. Every deal should

support the evolution of everyone involved.

Without a Higher Purpose you Could Lose Everything

We have one client who almost lost everything in a property downturn, to the

point of having suicidal thoughts. The reason he got caught in the downturn is

because his motivations were too self-centered. Since then he has found a

higher purpose and had more and more support with every deal he gets

involved with. Or in his words:

“You have gone beyond your call of duty in helping me during my most

challenging times to-date. For me this has been the most profound journey I

have ever taken whilst in the depths of the current financial crisis. There was no

one who could provide me with the real answers and solutions till I was referred

to you. The knowledge, advice & a profound technique you’ve shared has

helped me stabilize the situation from a personal & emotional level first and

secondly with improvements in my business & financial situation now unfolding.’

Not knowing your higher purpose blocks your progress

Another one of our client’s, who won a major award for his deal making ability,

stopped working with us soon after winning this award. We told him in the

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departing conversation that he won this award for a reason and he needed to

understand what it was. We re-connected with him after five months to see how

things were going for him. He said his deals weren’t working like they use to and

he was anxious to know why. We asked him if he had ever explored the

question we had left him with. He said 'no' and wanted us to tell him. We told

him it’s because, at this point in his growth as a leader, he now has to work from

a higher purpose and that his leadership is no longer about just fulfilling

individual ego motivations. He got it, did something about it, and from that point

on all of his deals started clicking for him again leading to his biggest deal ever.