Ari Gold: Super Agent? (Part two: Escalation)

In this brief exchange, Terrence signals to Ari that it's not in just one client that he's interested -- he wants a part of all of them. He pulls this off using normative leverage, described by Wharton negotiation professor G. Richard Shell as "the skillful use of standards, norms, and coherent positioning to gain advantage or protect a position."

The first form of normative leverage Terrence uses is the consistency principle, which is the use of someone else's standards to advance one's own argument. By announcing a standard with which he knew Ari agreed -- the rule that nobody can enter a staff meeting late -- he forces Ari to consider two options: Concede, or admit he made a mistake by upholding the rule in the first place.

Terrence's second leverage tactic, using an audience, plays a large part in Ari's decision to concede and leave the staff meeting. Ari cannot lose face by disobeying his own rules in front of his staff members and is unwilling to say that it's a bad rule. In the end, Terrence continues to run the meeting and Ari is sent back to his office.

Between Ari and Terrence we can already see the breakdown of "affiliation" that negotiator Roger Fisher and psychologist Daniel Shapiro say "keeps us honest, obligates us to search for an agreement of mutual benefit, and makes it likely we will honor an agreement." The lack of these characteristics will play an important role in later scenes.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Entourage
• Ari
• Gold
• Agent
• Negotiation

[diieson]

"I'll beat that old fuck and throw him in the pool!"

[norcoboy]

fuck you whered u hear that friendster

[Swatyo]

wow...this is the only time i've seen ari get owned by someone

pretty shocking =)

[aarongayle]

aahh he got dissed and dismissed