BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

Each week, Bulletproof Blog features exclusive interviews with thought leaders on issues of critical importance to companies and countries. This week, we interview Stratford Sherman, a partner with the corporate leadership advisory firm Accompli; co-author of the bestselling book Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will; and a former journalist who conducted high-stakes interviews with countless executives over two decades at Fortune magazine.

During an interview with General Electric CEO Jack Welch in 1988, Mr. Sherman saw how one business leader dealt with potentially hostile journalists or negotiators. He calls it "giving the other guy your gun." It' s simply a matter of offering important strategic concessions at the outset of an encounter - before they are demanded - to build trust and transform potential adversaries into allies.

Tell us about your first important experience with a "give the other guy your gun" strategy and why you found it so powerful?

Stratford Sherman: In 1988, General Electric was embroiled in an embarrassing crisis. Kidder Peabody, an investment firm that GE had recently acquired, was implicated in insider trading that had taken place before the GE acquisition. I was writing for Fortune at the time and had been assigned to interview GE' s legendary CEO Jack Welch about the episode. I hadn' t met Jack before, and was expecting him to do what CEOs in trouble usually do - spin, evade, and maybe even become defensive if pressed.

My expectations proved to be off the mark.

When we sat down for the interview, among the first words out of Jack' s mouth were along the lines of: We screwed up. We didn' t do our due diligence. That' s totally our fault. Never before had a CEO opened an interview with me by saying he was wrong. Those words just never pass the lips of most executives. It deeply impressed me. In a moment, he had completely won me over. He won my sympathy and interest. By now, I have known Jack over 20 years, and my affection for the guy began with that revelation of honesty - that vulnerability.

Welch knew GE had much greater interests at stake than Kidder Peabody. Even if he had to write off all of Kidder Peabody, that would have been better than letting one messed-up acquisition sink GE' s reputation for integrity. So there obviously was very clear-minded thinking underlying his strategy. He made a huge concession. In effect, he gave me his gun. I could have used that concession to construct a very damaging story - but that' s not how it turned out. I have to say, Jack' s approach worked.

How does the "giving the other guy your gun" strategy apply to your work as an advisor to senior corporate leaders?

Stratford Sherman: In adversarial situations, it' s very common for people to default into a mindset of opposition and enter into a zero sum game of "I win, you lose." But that' s not what optimal leadership is about. It' s about finding the win-win. A true leader knows how to lay down the weapons when it is strategically wise to do so.

I tell clients that it' s not weakness or surrendering. It' s about making a concession at the outset that disarms adversaries, builds trust, and makes mutual gain possible. Great leaders bring people together behind a common goal. By giving up your gun - thoughtfully and cautiously, of course - you can transform an adversarial relationship into one of mutual interest. You can get everyone on the same page. And that' s how the really brilliant leaders get things done.

Does "giving the other guy your gun" play into your own business model at Accompli?

Stratford Sherman: It does. Once we get to know a client and understand its desired outcomes, we often will structure a "success fee" that moderates the client' s monthly outlay for our services and defers a large portion of our profits to a fee that is paid only when the client' s goals are achieved.

Clients typically ask, "How are we going to define success? What specific metrics will we use? How will we know that we' ve seen a return on our investment?" When I hear that, my inclination is to flip the conversation by saying, "Why don' t we just say that if, by your own assessment and our predetermined definition of goals, success has been achieved, then you pay us. If, by your own assessment, success hasn' t been achieved, then you don' t. You can decide internally how to make that assessment and we will trust you to be fair."

We haven' t yet had a situation where success wasn' t achieved, and we' ve never had a success-fee client deny us the rewards we' ve earned, never. By  putting our trust in our clients, we enter into a form of partnership with them, genuinely joining our interests with theirs. That' s better for everyone than a bloody fight.

Larry Smith is Senior Vice President of Levick Strategic Communications and a contributing author to Bulletproof Blog.