Quite often other things in life can teach us valuable lessons for business. I am including an article ( https://rumbunter.com/2020/09/04/pittsburgh-pirates-ja-happ-mlb/ ) that is a story of a failed negotiation to land a valuable free agent.
JA Happ played the second half of the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015 and was outstanding. The team had a high level of interest in resigning him as a free agent for the 2016 season and beyond. They presented a 2 year contract with the caveat, if someone offers more we would like to have a chance to match. Someone did, and Mr. Happ accepted the other offer. The Pirates walked away empty handed and many believe that this was the beginning of a spiral for the team that had gone to the playoffs for 3 consecutive seasons.
The moral of the story is, when negotiating to hire talent, make your highest and best offer the first time, every time. Use all of your resources to strongly advocate for your firm putting it in the best light possible. The ramifications can be devastating if it is a key hire and you miss. The Pirates have gone from one of the top teams in baseball to likely having the worst record in baseball in 2020 after missing on this chance, leading to several miscalculated additions that didn't pan out. Not only did the roster suffer, but their reputation took a hit eliminating them in other pursuits.
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