We all need negotiation skills, whether in business or life. Even sometimes when taking a flight for a vacation. And sometimes celebrities, even presidents, have advice they can offer by example — sometimes good, sometimes bad.
A new Terri Gross interview of Bill Moyers yesterday touched on a controversial figure, President Lyndon Johnson. LBJ was an incredibly flawed person. But he was a consummate deal-maker — maybe the best to hit Washington in at least 100 years. (The Founding Fathers who negotiated the Constitution were no slouches.)
Donald Trump’s skills, for all he’s bragged of them, have not been impressive during his time so far in government. Teddy Roosevelt believed in the bully pulpit, but that has its limitations. FDR road the wave of fear and desperation from the Great Depression and World War II.
Under LBJ, Congress passed or enabled the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, equal promotion opportunity for women in the military, Medicare, big increases in Social Security benefits, Medicaid, and the Office of Economic Opportunity. His War on Poverty, with its admitted problems, helped reduce the national poverty level from 22.2 percent to 13 percent in five years.
I can’t think of another president who managed to do so much in so little time, particularly as he faced significant opposition in Congress, a body he had previously served in for decades. As I listened to Gross interview Moyers (well worth checking out at the link above), I came away with four fundamental points that helped Johnson channel his passion and knowledge of the system into success.
1. Recognize you’re in a horse trade
Too often people think of negotiation as strong-arming. The Hill has an example today with a story about Trump’s growing public animosity toward Congress. But blaming won’t get anything done. LBJ understood that the secret to getting things accomplished through negotiation was horse trading. You want something and other people do as well. Instead of talking someone’s ear off or making threats, make a deal. As Moyer put it, “He once said to us, ‘You know, the cardinal rule of what you’re doing up in Congress is if you don’t got something to give, you’re not going to get something to get.'”
2. Understand what the other guy wants
Johnson knew everyone in Congress inside out. He also made sure he knew all the other stakeholders, people with influence, and so on. Most importantly, he knew what each wanted. Some people would appreciate being invited with their wives to the White House for dinner. Others wanted a signed picture with the president to put on their wall, not just as an ego stroke but often because it helped create an impression of connections and power among visitors. There were elected representatives looking for a dam or other public works project in their districts. “Lyndon Johnson was a genius in knowing everyone’s price,” Moyers said.
3. Talk so people emotionally get you
When Gross asked for an example of an arm LBJ twisted or deal he made to get a vote, Moyers instead talked about how Johnson “knew how to phrase an issue or a challenge so that it would connect to people who had to vote on it in the House and Senate.” For example, Moyers and others wanted to include in the Medicare bill a retroactive increase in Social Security benefits and explain them as an economic stimulus. Here’s what he remembers Johnson telling him: “That’s not the basis to go to the Hill, Moyers. It’s not the justification. We’ve just got to say that, by God, you can’t treat grandma this way. She’s entitled. And we promised it to her.”
Similarly, when there was a hang-up on the Medicare bill in the Senate, Johnson told Moyers to tell everyone that they’d have bragging rights. That, years later, they could tell their grandchildren they were in Congress at an historic point. They were part of the good fight and could be proud. Moyers said he could see the light go on in the eyes of people in Congress when he told them that. They finally got the importance and significance.
Johnson was a master of what cognitive linguist George Lakoff discusses as speaking to evoke someone’s values framework. He reach the essentials and connected what he wanted to get done with what was important to people. One more bit from Moyers, because this point of talking to the emotional interests and understand of people is so important:
And when he talked like that to members of Congress, they got it. I mean, he could tailor his appeal to the interests and prejudices of the member of the Senate or House in front of him, but he knew how to get them to see it differently than the arcane language in the bill itself.
Of course Johnson knew how to threaten people. But that shouldn’t be the first tool used.
4. Don’t give up
Many deals don’t happen overnight. A number of attempts had been made to pass healthcare coverage for the elderly over the decades. Kennedy tried and failed by 4 votes, and that was with Johnson, vice-president at the time, working Congress. It failed several more times. If you want the deal, if it’s right and good and necessary from your view, don’t give up. Keep finding ways to advance your cause. Keep looking for new allies and tools to make that deal.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.