In God We Trust

Donald Trump vs. Mao Tse-Tung at the Negotiating Table: A Fractured Fairy Tale—Part 2

 

By Dr. Donald Wayne Hendon
DonaldHendon.com

Obama had a little too much to drink on St. Patrick’s Day and fell asleep early. He had a long dream. How long was it? It was so long, it takes three Fractured Fairy Tales to tell it. Here’s Part Two:

As I said in Part 1 of my fractured fairy tale yesterday March 18, Donald Trump and Mao Tse-Tung want to make a deal. Just imagine!  Today’s capitalist big-shot and the guerrilla warfare expert of the middle 20th century! Use your imagination. Here’s how this “fractured fairy tale” could have happened in 2013. Read part 1 if you haven’t already. Now, here’s Part 2.   

The Haircut Springs into Action

When Donald Trump read what Mao said in his interview, he knew he had to beat Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn to the punch! He didn’t care that Mao didn’t like his haircut. He wanted to build the first casino in Shanghai, and he immediately instructed his most trusted Chinese-speaking executive to set up a meeting with Mao himself. Trump didn’t have to worry. Mao had already turned down meetings with Adelson and Wynn—he wanted to get into a pissing contest with the biggest capitalistic ego in the world, Donald Trump himself! Not only that, he wanted to humiliate Haircut Guy and bring him down to earth! He wanted to So he accepted The Haircut’s invitation.

And there was a lot of icing on the cake. Mao loved the idea of visiting fabulous Las Vegas. He thought to himself, “I’ve heard about this city for many years. It’s very famous. There are many more casinos there than there are in Macau. I’d like to see for myself what it’s all about. Maybe I can duplicate some of its best features in Shanghai.”

So Trump set up the negotiations at the Trump International Hotel, one block away from the Las Vegas Strip, right next to the Fashion Show Mall. 64 stories tall, it was opened in 2008. He was planning to build a second 64-story tower right next door. The Haircut considered this hotel to be the crowning jewel in all of the Trump empire—bigger and more luxurious than his three casino-hotels in Atlantic City, New Jersey. And he thought Mao would be impressed by the fact that he was doubling its size. He wanted to show off by taking Mao around the construction site himself. Trump reserved the presidential suite at the top of his Trump International Hotel. And threw in 20 more floors of rooms for Mao’s entourage.

When Mao arrived at McCarran Airport in Vegas, Trump himself met him and whisked him away in his private helicopter. After they landed on the top of Trump’s hotel, Mao told The Haircut he wanted to see the hotel’s casino area before he saw his suite. Mao was shocked to find out that the Trump Hotel did not have a casino. Haircut Guy explained that several of the more expensive hotels on the Strip had no casinos—not just Trump’s hotel but also the Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, J W Marriott, Turnberry Towers, and others. Mao didn’t like that explanation—he thought Trump was lying to him. So he asked his aides to visit those four hotels. Sure enough, all were on the strip, all were five-star caliber (except for Turnberry), and none of them had casinos.

Mao relaxed for the next few days. Got rid of his jet lag. Played a little poker.  He didn’t leave Trump’s hotel except for a couple of helicopter trips which gave him a good view of Vegas and the Strip. One afternoon, he took a helicopter trip to the famous Grand Canyon. 

But it was not all play and no work. Before Mao left on his trip to the U.S., one of his aides had given him Donald Wayne Hendon’s two books to read: Guerrilla Deal-Making (2013) and 365 Powerful Ways to Influence (Pelican, 2010). His aide told him these were the best negotiating books he had ever seen. Mao read them before he left for Vegas, and he was very impressed. During the three days he was relaxing in Vegas, waiting for the negotiating sessions with The Haircut to begin, he looked over Trump’s 1988 book, Trump: The Art of the Deal, really written by one of Trump’s most trusted employees, Tony Schwartz. That book listed The Haircut’s favorite 11 deal-making weapons. Because of Trump’s oversized ego, it even included 42 pictures—baby pictures, pictures of Trump buildings, and other personal stuff. Mao’s aides told him it wasn’t a very good book, but it wasn’t as bad as Trump-Style Negotiation, written in 2006 by another Trump employee, George Ross.

Mao said to one of the members of his entourage, “Trump seems to have 11 favorite Negotiating Weapons, according to this book. All of them sound similar to many of Donald Wayne Hendon’s 365 Negotiating Weapons. Tell me which weapons Dr. Hendon talks about correspond to Schwartz’s 11 weapons. That will help me when I negotiate with Trump.” His aide gave him a summary of this information on five sheets of paper, and Mao studied these sheets. He wasn’t surprised that the list of Trump’s favorite 11 weapons didn’t include any tactical weapons that Chinese people really use a lot. Such as Hendon’s Tuangou / Swarming Ambush / Flash Mobs (Assertive Weapon 58), where many people overpower a single person. And The Rule of Three—A Chinese Favorite (Assertive Weapon 25), where you say no at least three times before finally saying yes.

Mao memorized Trump’s favorite 11 negotiating weapons and came up with several counter-punches for each one. Trump’s 11 weapons and Don Hendon’s corresponding tactical Weapons are:

1. Contain the costs (Hendon’s Intimidate the other guy by your money—Assertive 84)

2. Deliver the goods (A combination of Hendon’s Let’s look at the record—Assertive 104 and Complete honesty—Cooperative 8)

3, Enhance your location (Hendon’s Negotiate at my place—it’s more powerful—Assertive 57)

4. Fight back (Hendon’s Don’t give in to unreasonable demands—Defensive 89)

5. Get the word out—be outrageous (A combination of Hendon’s Act egotistical—Assertive 39, Tell him about all my satisfied customers—Assertive 40, and Get good publicity from the news media—Defensive 79) 

6. Have fun (Hendon’s Calm down and lighten up (Preparation 12)

7. Know your market (Hendon’s Knowledge is power—know my enemy and know myself—Assertive 32)

8. Maximize your option (A combination of Hendon’s Flexible persistence—Assertive 102, Be sure—use off-setting bets—Assertive 121), Remind him of his competition—real or imaginary (Defensive 4)

9. Protect your downside, and the upside will take care of itself (Hendon’s Become hard to convince—Preparation 7)

10. Think big (Hendon’s Size matters—the Big Pot—Assertive 48)

11. Use your leverage (Hendon’s For sellers—make buyers pursue me for a change—Assertive 20

Mao’s aide told him The Haircut would also use Hendon’s Assertive Weapon 95 against Mao and that Mao should use this same weapon on Trump. It’s called Intimidate the other guy if you’re a celebrity.

The Guerrilla Comes to the Haircut’s Office

And so on the fourth day, Mao and Trump met in Trump’s office. Mao thought he was prepared. He remembered Dr. Hendon’s 13 intimidation tactics (Assertive 83-95). Mao wondered which ones The Haircut would use on him.

Are you wondering, too? Then come back to StupidFrogs.org tomorrow for the conclusion of this Fractured Fairy Tale.

Copyright (c) 2013


 

Dr. Donald Wayne Hendon is a consultant, speaker, trainer, and author of 10 books, including Guerrilla Deal-Making (with Jay Conrad Levinson) and 365 Powerful Ways to Influence. Deal-Making contains the 100 most powerful tactics from 365 Powerful Ways—along with 400 countermeasures. There are 121 aggressive tactics, 92 defensive ones, 24 cooperative ones, and 16 submissive ones to get what you want from other people. Plus 81 dirty tricks to watch out for and 31 tactics to prepare you for your interaction with them. Download Chapter 1, free of charge, at www.DonaldHendon.com. Play his free online Negotiation Poker game by going to GuerrillaDon.com. Apps will soon be available.