Getting to the Issues that Matter

What brought you to HBS?

I started my career as an engineer in high technology and eventually came to HBS for an MBA. I was working as a management consultant when the Kraft family recruited me to help them buy a professional sports team here in the Boston area. We eventually acquired the New England Patriots. I spent a total of 17 years running the old stadium, building the new Gillette Stadium, and being part of an organization that ultimately brought three Super Bowl championships to the area.

In 2005, some friends at HBS approached me about joining the faculty. Those of us who are recruited out of industry complement the academically trained faculty in the classroom. We work together to identify interesting areas of research that will be most relevant to business practice now and in the future.

What has been your focus at HBS?

Much of the work that I've done at HBS in the past 10 years has focused on negotiations. I employ many simulations and interactive exercises that allow people to try out new techniques and test approaches that have worked for them in the past.

Because this is a very controlled setting, everyone is running experiments and then sharing those experiences and results with others who may have run different experiments. Not only do participants learn a lot from the exercise itself, but they also learn a great deal from the debriefing and the diverse results. Through that process, participants internalize important negotiation principles and techniques.

What is your favorite aspect of teaching in GMP?

The Harvard Business School brand tends to attract the very best people. I find it very exciting to wake up in the morning and know that I'm going to have a new experience with a group of very talented and accomplished individuals. I might teach the same material many times--with changes as the business environment evolves—but the classroom experience is always new and different with each new GMP group. It's an adventure for everyone in the room. The opportunity to engage with 130 or 140 professionals who see business and life from different perspectives is a continuing feast of learning.

What is unique about the General Management Program?

GMP is distinguished by the breadth of experienced senior executives who come to the program from different geographies, industries, and functions. GMP participants' amazing diversity and depth of experience produce a constant cross-fertilization of ideas. These executives have great ways of conceptualizing problems and exchanging insights and solutions. Faculty members aim to provide relevant cases and a core of meaningful instruction. But the participants’ varied perspectives bring the whole thing to life.

What do you find most challenging about teaching in GMP?

Participants typically bring very different levels of negotiation experience: Some executives negotiate all the time in their role, while others don't negotiate often or only negotiate internally.

We work to address that diverse experience as we proceed through the various topics. We illuminate the factors common to all negotiations and help participants understand how stronger negotiation skills can help them. Even if you're not in sales or procurement or M&A, internal negotiations are important to your work, especially in areas involving human resources, budgeting, or other kinds of resource allocation. In our discussions, we try to apply the knowledge that exists in the classroom to problems that are common across the group.

What is the value of alternating on-campus and off-campus learning during GMP?

The work executives do off campus helps to optimize learning in their time on campus. The first session, which takes place off campus and provides a foundation for the program's topics, is especially important. For example, an executive in China might have a very different way of articulating a problem than an executive in South America. But with the work they do in Module 1, executives begin to develop shared terminology and a shared understanding of basic concepts. As a result, we can use the time we have together on campus for more nuanced questions and problems and bring the group discussions and exercises to a different level.

What's the key benefit of attending GMP?

A wiser man than I once said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." The people in senior management roles who attend GMP are incredibly busy. They are drawn into the day-to-day problems of their specific business and industry—and often their personal perspectives and relationships take a back seat.

GMP takes executives away from those day-to-day demands for a significant period of time, brings them together with other very successful people, and gives them the opportunity to engage in valuable contemplation that is transformative at both a business level and a personal level. They leave with new ways to think about their roles and responsibilities as business leaders going forward. The ones who continue that habit of reflection will be more effective—not only as business leaders, but also as people and as citizens of the world.

What challenges does the professional sports industry share with other industries?

Managers in the professional sports industry face challenges very similar to those in other industries. You need to understand customers—the fan base. You can control some aspects of the product but not others—such as injuries. So you have to focus on aspects of the product that can be controlled. You need to consider the fundamental questions many types of businesses face every day: What's going to make your customer want to associate with you? How do you build brand loyalty? How do you create competitive strategies?

How are negotiations different in the world of professional sports?

High visibility can make important negotiations challenging. Teams try to keep negotiations quiet because the media will tend to exacerbate conflict in order to generate interesting stories. You need to carefully manage the message and deal sensitively with delicate points of the negotiation—and not use the media to bluster. Some agents like the media exposure because they are marketing themselves to the next client. In these negotiations, it's important to be conscious of the role of the media, the role others will play in the process, and the complications that might take place—all in addition to the substantive elements of the deal.

What are some of the biggest pitfalls to avoid during negotiations?

Negotiators can become locked in. In a financial negotiation, they may focus on wrestling over the money and who's going to win. That kind of locked-in, win-lose attitude is very limiting. Instead, negotiators need to expand their understanding of the set of interests on both sides of the table.

It's not always about the money. Of course, a team is not going to put together a deal for a high-profile player without understanding that the money is important. But both the player and the team will have other interests—including shared interests such as winning Super Bowls. Some players don’t like to negotiate on those terms; they focus on the money. Under the constrained salary cap system where every team has only a certain number of resource dollars to work with, the team has to think very carefully about the pros and cons of making an investment in that type of player, because it's going to limit the ability to sign other talent.