Success Quote by Leigh Steinberg

"We're all negotiators" is the kind of line that sounds like a motivational poster until you remember who’s saying it. Leigh Steinberg isn’t selling abstract self-help; he’s a super-agent archetype from the era when sports became Wall Street with shoulder pads. Coming from a businessman whose job is to turn human performance into leverage, the phrase is both democratizing and quietly ruthless.

The intent is persuasive: flatten the distance between expert dealmakers and everyone else. If negotiation isn’t a specialized skill but a basic condition of modern life, then you’re already in the game whether you asked to play or not. That move does two things at once. It empowers the listener (you can learn this; you’re not helpless) and it normalizes a worldview where every interaction has terms, stakes, and an implied contract. It’s an invitation to think strategically, but also a warning that other people already are.

The subtext is pure late-capitalist realism: your salary, your relationship boundaries, your time, your online attention, even your sense of self are constantly being priced, traded, and defended. Steinberg’s context matters here. As sports money exploded and athletes became brands, agents became cultural translators between talent and institutions - a role that looks a lot like navigating power imbalances for a living.

The line works because it’s simple enough to be comforting and sharp enough to be unsettling. It tells you to stop waiting for permission. It also implies you’re always one conversation away from getting out-negotiated.