Over the course of a forty-year career in the worlds of law, sports, business, and politics, Ron Shapiro has worked with and advised an incredible variety of people. What he's found is that the secret ingredient for getting into the winner's circle is simply the discipline of methodical preparation: that old-school, step-by-step way of having all your ducks in a row, whether you are an executive getting ready to do a deal or make a speech; a pitcher studying the traits of opposing hitters and keeping a meticulous notebook of their strengths and weaknesses; an international trade negotiator who knows all about the issues and the people on the other side before sitting down at the table; or a surgeon who rehearses like a classical musician. Deep down, you know you should do it. But how often do you wing it and fly by the seat of your pants because "Gosh, I don't have time . . . I've done this before . . . I know what I'm doing"? It is obvious that you have to get ready for whatever game you're playing, but all too frequently methodical preparation is the missing ingredient in today's world of instant analysis, easy access to information, and glibness that sounds good at first but is unconnected with the reality at hand. InDare to Prepare, successful people such as wine guru Robert Parker, investment legend Bill Miller, pianist Leon Fleisher, Goldman Sachs partner Lisa Fontenelli, broadcaster Bob Costas, firefighter Ann Marie Tierney, New York Mets manager Willie Randolph, and many others share the way they apply discipline in preparing for career-changing games, deals, meetings, and interviews. Cal Ripken Jr. played thousands of games in the major leagues but prepared for each like it was his first. NPR host Liane Hansen has interviewed countless people but approaches each interview with the same meticulous research time and time again. Make sure there are no slips "twixt cup and lip" as you get ready for your next personal or professional challenge by daring to prepare. From the Hardcover edition.

RONALD M. SHAPIRO, cofounder of the Shapiro Negotiations Institute, was called “one of baseball’s most respected agent attorneys by USA Today and has represented a record five Major League Baseball Hall of Famers. He has been recognized by Smart CEO as one of its “Twenty Most Admired Leaders,” and The Sporting News also named him one of the “100 most powerful people in sports.” Ron is the coauthor of The Power of Nice and Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People.

GREGORY JORDAN is a writer from Baltimore. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, The Hill, and Crisis magazine.


From the Hardcover edition.

1

PUT ME IN, COACH

You know the feeling--you first got it as a kid. Say you are a young musician taking lessons. You listen to your teacher play the piece for next week; you practice the most difficult chords with her; and you go home and nail it like Wynton Marsalis or Yo-Yo Ma. You tell yourself you've mastered it and decide to watch a sitcom instead of practicing more. You show up at your teacher's house seven days later, stretch your fingers, and utterly flub the recital.

Or say you're on the bench in youth basketball or in the Little League dugout, and you want to play. You can nail that shot; you can hit that pitcher. Coach turns to you; you get your chance; you rush in; and you miss the basket altogether or strike out on three pitches.

Most of you remember experiences like this as a kid. Comical or trite, they stick with you. And they serve as good analogies for trying to close a multimillion-dollar deal or sale, give a big presentation, do a negotiation, interview for a job, or pick a doctor. The exclamation "Put me in, Coach" didn't become a piece of Americana for nothing. It is the American way, in fact, to see or hear something done once and believe you can do it better. Immediately!

Whenever I hear John Fogerty's 1985 song "Centerfield," I laugh at the way I still feel the eagerness of a kid in the dugout when it comes to taking on a task. So hummable, the song captures the youthful zeal we can still feel when a big task is at hand. "Centerfield" became a favorite of my client and friend, the late Kirby Puckett, during the joyous ascent of the Minnesota Twins in the mid-1980s. Kirby had that Little League enthusiasm, and he made you feel as a fan that you could do it, too.

But let me tell you something: Kirby Puckett practiced, sportsese for "prepared," like his life depended on it. He was right up there with Cal Ripken Jr. in terms of a certain paranoia: I doubt either ever said "put me in, Coach" without feeling completely assured that he had prepared for all the possible dimensions of the at bat or of fielding the ball. Each man tempered his boyish zeal for the game with a studious devotion to preparation. On the scale of perspiration and inspiration, Cal and Kirby spent 50 percent of their time preparing and 50 percent performing. They perspired methodically during hours of practice and inspired monumentally when we were allowed to glimpse them perform.

For many reasons, the lionization of the master preparer seems to have waned. Performers are admired for their results, but not necessarily studied and emulated for their preparation. Enron was obviously a product of this do-it-quick culture. We live in what is perhaps the most results-driven era in history. Earnings, whether real or imagined, and performance, whether real or inflated, do not necessarily result from thorough preparation anymore. But, as a moralist at heart, I still believe that enduring success results from effective preparation. You can try to sneak around preparation, develop shortcuts, or come up with clever schemes. But succumbing to a shortcut culture will usually catch up with you.

THE GOOD OLD DAYS:

WHEN YOUR MOTHER OR

FATHER PREPARED LIKE THERE

WAS NO TOMORROW

Doting elders of my family told me that I was going to be president of the United States. Most of you probably got that treatment, too. I was president of my high school and college classes. I began to believe the incessant familial hype and couldn't wait to turn thirty-five to qualify. Put me in, Coach, I can be president.

Your head is filled with images of winners. Particularly during the technology boom of the late 1990s and the real estate boom of this decade, people were becoming multimillionaires like never before. Understandably, a lot of people want to skip steps and rush into fame and fortune.

It took a wise man to slow me down

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Excerpted from Dare to Prepare: How to Win Before You Begin by Ronald M. Shapiro, Gregory Jordan
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.