George Walbridge Perkins was born on 31st January 1862, in Chicago.
After completing his high school education, he joined New York Life Insurance Company as an office boy.
With his exceptional problem-solving skills and hard work, he became the vice president of New York Life Insurance Company in 1989.
In1905, he joined JP Morgan and negotiated many complex deals.
But his real test of skills came in 1912.
In 1912, he was the campaign manager of Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt who was the 26th president of the USA from 1901 to 1909; was trying hard to win the presidential nomination.
To promote Roosevelt and his party, George Perkins decided to distribute a pamphlet.
The pamphlet will have Roosevelt’s photo on the cover, and inside it will have the transcript of his speech called “Confession of Faith”.
All was going well until a worker noticed a line on the photograph: Moffett Studios — Chicago.
The photo was copyrighted and the owner was Moffett Studios.
The unauthorized use of this photo may result in paying $3 million as a fine.
They cannot go back and change their campaign plan.
They had to negotiate for the photograph with Moffett studios at any cost.
Further investigations revealed that Moffett was a tough case when it came to money.
And he was also planning to retire soon.
So it was assumed that he will ask tons of money for this photograph.
The clever George Perkins stepped into this matter.
He did not ask Moffett how much they should pay him to use the photograph.
Instead, he landed him in a tricky situation.
He sends him the following message.
“We are planning to distribute millions of pamphlets with Roosevelt’s picture on the cover. It will be great publicity for the studio whose photograph we use. How much will you pay us to use yours?”
George Perkins has turned the table using his foxy thinking.
On the other hand, Moffett was unable to understand this tactic.
And he replied innocently to George.
“We have never done this before. But under the circumstances, we’d be pleased to offer you $250.”
George accepted the offer of $250.
With his exceptional skills and creative thinking, George has not only solve the problem but also made Moffett pay them for using the photograph.
Creative thinking can turn the tables.
No comments:
Post a Comment