Better Caul Saul is a recent spinoff of Breaking Bad featuring the rise of lawyer, James McGill, and his journey to becoming the persona fans come to know him as “Saul Goodman,” a con-lawyer who helps drug lords stay undercover. Although Jimmy’s life is a tragedy, his journey is an albeit complicated one as he deals with a brother who actively hates him and seeks to destroy his career as a reputable lawyer. These brothers offer two contrasts of success. Chuck is by the book, formal, and highly detail-oriented, while James is rough around the edges, humorous, and flies by the seat of his pants more than any formal plans. Jimmy’s biggest problem is constantly lying to his clients and overselling his services, which gets him into a lot of trouble. However, despite his vices, Jimmy is excellent at letting his clients/prospects giving him information before moving in on the sale. Consider this clip below:
Instead of immediately assuming what the prospect is worrying about, Jimmy fishes for the information with questions and silence when he is not sure what the prospect is looking for. Of course, the main problem that needs to address is that Jimmy is lying about EVERYTHING with the phone’s capabilities here, which is a direct violation of integrity and goes against the information symmetry with the internet. Jimmy lacks complete integrity. He will do anything to get a sale. Yet somehow the show makes him endearing and sympathetic because his personality is so charming and likable. In terms of learning things from Jimmy, it seems that what’s good about Jimmy is that he uses his personality to his strength. The problem is that he lies. If Jimmy told the truth, there would be much more to learn from him. However, his lies hinder his character and in the end, get him in more trouble.
BoweryJE22
This reminds me a lot of the dilemma of trust in Negotiation. Anytime trust is broken in negotiation or sales, it is extremely tough to come back from it. It can give you a bad reputation not only to that original sale but to other customers you are trying to sell to. It is always wise to be truthful in anything because lying can only destroy any trust you have with the other party and future parties.
Agreed! Ultimately Jimmy’s lies result in his downfall, showing that he can’t run away from the truth forever. If he told the truth he would actually be a great salesman!
This is interesting, obviously, salesmen are supposed to not lie, period. They often get a bad rap because of salesmen like Jimmy. Lying will not get them anywhere, even though it may be in the short term, oftentimes the truth will come out. Losing the trust of customers will not serve you well in making sales in the future, even if you have a good personality that relates well with your customers.
Oh, definitely. That should go without saying. What I think is so interesting about the show is that it contrasts how both of the McGill brothers get things wrong. Chuck tells the truth in every single scenario but absolutely hates is brother and wants to see him fail, whereas Jimmy tries to get by with lies to solve for his shortcomings. Chuck follows the law to the T but is absolutely despicable towards his brother and tries to see him fail. Jimmy evades the law because Chuck is always trying to put him down and lies to get by. It’s a heartbreaking dynamic because if Jimmy told the truth and Chuck had more grace and forgiveness, Jimmy would be a great salesman but his lies ultimately result in his downfall.