The Leadership Letter

Real correspondence from the people running real companies — and what it reveals about leadership.

Choreograph the Meeting Before You Walk In

Great negotiators don't just prepare arguments — they stage-manage what the other side hears, when, and from whom.

Thanks, Purnima. I copied into a doc and made some suggested edits. The line we're trying to walk is to try to get Mark on side in encouraging Tim to be open-minded, and giving just enough detail for Tim not to feel that it's an ambush of any sort (which it's not)... but also save some of our strongest points/specifics for the Friday discussion. I think as worded the script should be able to do that.

The tricky part will be if Mark asks directly, "So, are you guys prepared to make any changes on commercial terms for Play?" I think if he asks, you can just say, "For a lot of reasons, Hiroshi & Jamie want to have a different conversation -- they will explain on Friday."

— Jamie

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Here's the draft script. We believe we are philosophically closer than what the previous call may have implied, and would like to have the opportunity to explore areas of collaboration with Tim. Then, Tim will meet Hiroshi (SVP of P&E), Jamie, and Phil Harrison. They are looking forward to presenting a comprehensive set of opportunities to partner with Google that will support Tim's objectives of supporting the dev ecosystem, making UE the best engine for innovation in gaming, and bring the joy of Fortnite to more gamers and viewers.

We also have a responsibility towards our users. Frankly, the experience of getting Fortnite on Android from the links Tim sent was frankly abysmal. This user experience and the security risks that come with it is giving us some real concern. There is a simpler way to get to what Tim wants without fracturing the user experience and the ecosystem.

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Court Exhibit
In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation (Epic v. Google)
3:21-md-02981 (CAND), Doc. 887-5, filed 2023-12-21
July 19, 2018
Public domain
View the primary source →