Negotiating, often denigrated as a field for those with more attitude than aptitude, is often the place where very smart executives make glaringly dumb decisions. A good example of this surfaced when ABC attempted to woo David Letterman away from CBS.
ABC made a strong if ultimately unsuccessful sales pitch, throwing a fright into the incumbent network. It seems clear, however, that ABC wouldn't have gotten to second base if CBS hadn't blundered repeatedly, including apparently not reading its own contract with Letterman.
But that's not the point I want to make. Instead, my interest was piqued by quotes (from the usual uncredited sources) that said the only reason the barn door was open in the first place was that CBS bungled its exclusive 45-day renegotiation period. "If only they'd put a serious offer on the table to start with, things never would have gotten to this point," was the general tenor of remark by the various executives interviewed.