Tuesday morning I was sitting in an airport waiting on a flight to Nashville. I was sitting in a restaurant scrolling through Twitter as I waited on my breakfast to arrive at the table. That is when I stumbled upon a story from Yahoo!.
According to the UN, Covid-19 has exacerbated a hunger crisis around the globe. David Beasley, the director of the UN’s World Food Programme, has called on billionaires around the globe to donate. His belief is that $6 billion is what is needed to feed 42 million people on the brink of starvation. He says the crisis is so dire that it is likely most or all of those people will die without relief.
Elon Musk, never one to miss an opportunity to tell you he is a billionaire, took to Twitter to issue a challenge to the UN.
Musk’s company, Tesla, is valued at $1 trillion. According to Dr. Eli David, $6 billion is 2% of Elon Musk’s personal net worth. It isn’t absurd for Musk to want to know where his money would be going or how it would be spent. It is just a really bad look for a guy worth 12-figures to demand someone dance in order for him to care about poor people.
This reminded me of contract negotiations in radio. Granted, the figures involved are much smaller and the stakes do not even begin to matter when compared to combating global hunger, but the tactics Musk is leaning into feel really familiar.
I have talked to talents before that make last-second contract demands during negotiations to see just how far a company will go to show it wants the talent. That isn’t attempting to meet a need or gain any knowledge before making a decision. That is chasing clout.
Elon Musk is a smart guy. Even if you’re Stugotz and Billy Gil and think the guy is a fraud when it comes to business and science, you still have to admit that he knows how to market and make people pay attention to him. And that’s the point.
Again, there is nothing unreasonable about wanting to know how the money will be spent before you donate to a cause. Making that demand in public on social media though is only about attention and power. It isn’t about trying to hold anyone accountable.
How much a station or company values you should be pretty clear by the time you get to the negotiating table. If you have second thoughts or the money that is offered is nowhere near what you were expecting, walk away. This world is so full of ego that plenty of people don’t even value themselves enough not to waste their own time. They would rather get some meaningless win that no one else will even know about by making another person waste their time too.
There are plenty of Elon Musk sycophants out there, which is a really sad commentary on our society that businessmen have fans. They will always think the guy is right. That’s good for Musk, but the reality is that those people represent a fraction of a fraction of society. There are way more people that will have their view of him shaped by the dumb shit he does like calling someone that said his invention wouldn’t work a “pedo guy,” making demands of people that ask him to help feed the poor, or his “look at me fellow kids, I am smoking the weeds” face.
There is no shortage of billionaires in this country or around the world. In fact, the growth that billionaires’ personal wealth expreienced during the pandemic was the inspiration for the UN’s request. Elon Musk won’t make or break this effort to raise money to feed 42 million people.
Both facts are worth remembering for talent in a negotiation. The number people that will bend over backwards to meet your requests and demands is always going to be dwarfed by the number of people you are making an impression on for the first time and they will always have other options. Maybe your name is at the top of the list, but there is always a list.
It is always a delicate dance for the one being courted or pitched. You have more power than you ever will. At the same time, you cannot be openly disrespectful. That is how negotiations end and offers disappear.
Never make a decision before you have all of the information that you need or want. Never lose site of the messages you send throughout the process though. This is a small business and people talk to one another all the time!
Showing your ass to one decision-maker is no different than showing it on Twitter. That might be something Elon Musk can afford to do. You probably can’t though. Ask for what you want and what you need. If you lose interest, be respectful and move on. Chasing clout will always cost more than it earns.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
