We agree with Guy Kawasaki, you should be a mensh and that should be one of your driving principles.
Here at Tova Group, we were offered a business deal by a potential client who was in a desperate business situation. They pushed hard for a deal to the point they wanted to pay earnest money even before any results came through our potential partnership. They offered a five figure amount in earnest money together with more if the deal came to fruition. However, we felt this fit was not perfect for us, and we declined to sign up. In fact, we predicted that the other party might soon be forced to liquidate and announce bankruptcy even with our potential involvement. We did not want to profit from nor take advantage of someone in a precarious position when we felt we couldn’t help their final outcome. We could have signed a letter of intent and walked away with the earnest money, but we declined to do so feeling this would be taking advantage of another party in a desperate situation. Sure enough, about 12 months after the deal was offered the other party had to liquidate and declare bankruptcy.
This brings us to our story of Al Davis, the general managing partner of the NFL Oakland Raiders and his un-mensch-like behavior. In the late 1980’s the Raiders (then in Los Angeles) were running high. In 1984 they had won the SuperBowl in just their second year in Los Angeles and were considered among the NFL’s elite teams. They captured the imagination of many football followers and were among the NFL’s leader in sports merchandising and fan interest. As their cache grew and grew, so too did seemingly their sense of entitlement. In 1987 Al Davis announced that he was unhapy with their current stadium the Los Angeles Coliseum, and he wanted to move the team to a new stadium
Irwindale, a town of about 1000 people 20 miles east of Los Angeles, threw their hat in the ring and proposed to the Raiders that they could build a football stadium in a huge gravel pit near the highway. The courtship began. Everyone was seemingly happy on both sides. There was one small catch. Al Davis had the city sign a letter of intent which required the city of Irwindale to put up a non-refundable $10 million to begin negotiations. It soon became clear that the deal would not be completed and the negotiations quickly fell apart. Well, Al Davis and the Raiders walked away from the deal, and a few years later moved the team back to Oakland. The Raiders pocketed the deposit, walking away with $10 million from a city of 1000 residents, all for a deal that many thought had no chance to go through in the first place.
A mensch would not have taken the $10 million from the city, and allowed the citizens of Irwindale to keep the money when the deal fell through. Do you believe in karma and “what goes around comes around”? Well in the 20 years since 1988 then the Raiders record has been 152 wins and 179 losses, whereas in the 20 years from 1968 – 1988 it had been 211 wins and 88 losses.
There’s a difference between doing the “legal” thing, and the right thing. Do the right thing, be a mensch, and don’t take advantage of other people, even when you have the “legal” right to do so.
N.B. We are recovering Raider addicts, and still believe the only SuperBowl worth talking about and the greatest SuperBowl ever played was SB XVIII, when the Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins 38-9 setting records for most points scored, largest margin of victory, the longest touchdown run, and the first team to score an offensive, defensive and special teams touchdown in the same Super Bowl. May they return to their mensch-like ways and may success follow them.
