Verbal Jujitsu Procurement Culture

“During his time at IBM, he studied negotiation like it was both an art and a science. Later, describing tricks of the trade, he likened negotiations to “verbal jujitsu” and reflected on his ability to convince adversaries that his ideas were their own. He understood the power of emotion and could feign anger, disbelief, or frustration at will. One time he even took his shoe off and threw it against the wall. Sometimes he’d just quietly peer at an opponent, comfortable in the silence as they grew awkward. “If you just stare someone directly in the eye, with a very concerned look, sometimes their imagination runs wild on what you’re thinking, and they’ll migrate to what might be the worst possible outcomes for themselves,” he recounted in 2024.”

“But Blevins wasn’t just frugal; he was competitive about it. Getting the best deal was imprinted on his psyche, and he’d turned it into a game. His father had a side hustle running a used car lot, where Tony and his brother worked as teenagers. Each month they’d hold a competition: “Whoever could sell the shittiest car for the most profit would win,” is how one colleague remembers him describing it.”