Negotiating with Sam Zell
Sam Zell is considered an effective, aggressive negotiator. Known as the "Grave Dancer" for his success in purchasing distressed assets, is worth an estimated 4.9 billion. On one occasion I had an opportunity to deal with Zell. I would like to be able to report that I beat up Mr. Zell on a multi-million dollar deal, but that isn't the case. In 1990, his business partner Robert Lurie passed away at the young age of 48. He was an extremely successful businessman. As a harpist, my ex-wife was selected to play at Mr. Lurie's funeral. Prior to the event, My ex-wife and I met with Sam Zell to work out the music program. Zell was very firm about the fact that all music played had to me either Mozart, or music very similar to Mozart. This required quite a bit of extra practice and preparation by the harpist, including learning new music. Her goal was basically to do whatever it took to provide a top performance. Afterward, I reflected that given more work was required, more money could have been requested. It would have been interesting to go toe-to-toe with Zell, but in the end we were focused on the opportunity to meet the clients needs.
Fast-forward to 2014, and my nine-year-old son (from my second wife, not the harp-player!) has been diagnosed with leukemia. He was treated at the Robert and Ann Lurie Children's Hospital. A few years ago, Ann Lurie was ever so generous as to donate $100 million to Children's to the hospital. The new facility was named in the Lurie's honor. Her generosity has helped countless children. Nowadays leukemia can often be treated successfully. My son's leukemia is in remission, and the doctors anticipate a full recovery. Seeing what the Lurie's have done for these children, I am glad we did not beat up on Mr. Zell just to get top dollar, and that she played the music she was paid to play to the best of her ability!