leverage

I've been hearing the term "leverage" a lot in the office lately. when you're working in a huge corporation such as News Corporation, you realize that type of power dynamics that go on with your agency in the face of other such smaller companies.

for example, when we're dealing with vendors and we don't pay them in time we just simply say "sorry, we don't have the payment ready, please be patient" and that's that - no need to fear for repercussions, no need to fear the collection agency. why? it's cause we're effin' News Corp and as a result, we have a lot of leverage that allows us to bolster our stance.

coming from vancouver where everyone plays nice, it's incredible to see how corporations fight for legitimacy and how they display their power through these acts. i remember one time when we were negotiating the talent fee of an (intentionally) unnamed American Idol (AI) talent and how we eventually had the leverage to dictate their fee - and not her agent - because AI being a FOX show, in a sense, owns the talent that is displayed on that reality series. as a result, we have a lot of leverage.

whats even funnier is while sitting in on that negotiation was how the big boss was saying "no fucking way, she wasn't even in the top 10, there's no way that she deserves this x amount of money." but my manager goes, "i'm pretty sure she's worth this money, c'mon!" [...] a couple of minutes past and someone looks up the AI talent on wikipedia. Turns out the AI talent was in the top ten....but got kicked out at 9th place. it's hilarious to see how leverage, entertainment, and negotiations all intertwine. it's like being Turtle in an episode of Entourage - being in that type of Hollywood world but always the observer.