Herb Cohen

Herb Cohen has been a practicing negotiator for the past 4 decades, intimately involved in some of the world’s headline dramas – from hostile takeovers to hostage negotiations. As an adviser to Presidents Carter and Reagan on combating terrorism, he was involved in the Iranian Hostage Crisis and credited with helping to shape the government’s response to the skyjacking of TWA Flight 847 and the seizure of the Achille Lauro.  More recently, Cohen’s  input has been sought by the White House on a myriad of problems from domestic political strategy to the plague of international terrorism.

As a result of his extensive experience and unique presentation style, Mr. Cohen is internationally renowned as someone who can articulate and explain complex events both for information as well as entertainment. He offers step-by-step strategies you can use immediately to negotiate more effectively. Best of all, he does it with a sense of humor — using real life anecdotes that bring his principles to life. Cohen shows audiences why it’s important to care — but not that much.

Herb Cohen’s analysis, insights and humorous view of many of these high-level happenings have appeared in many international publications, and he himself has been the subject of articles in numerous publications such as TIME magazine, PEOPLE, the ECONOMIST, THE NEW YORKER, NEWSWEEK, FORTUNE SMALL BUSINESS, and ROLLING STONE magazines. In these writings he has been called the “World’s Best Negotiator” and referred to as “America’s foremost convention speaker, presenting serious subjects with such humor and dramatic flair that they become pure entertainment”.

TOPICS

• Negotiate This! By Caring But Not T-H-A-T Much
• You Can Negotiate Anything
• Successful Negotiating Techniques
• Emerging Leadership Skills
• Relationship Selling
• The Scourge of International Terrorism
• Crisis Management

Full Biography

For more than three decades, Herb Cohen has been a practicing negotiator, intimately enmeshed in some of the world’s headline dramas from hostile takeovers to hostage negotiations. His clients have included business executives, entrepreneurs, sports and theatrical agents plus large corporations – as well as governmental agencies, such as the Department of State, FBI, CIA, The US Conference of Mayors and US Department of Justice.

Unlike some theorists, he was actively involved in the negotiations that settled the NFL players’ strike and the General Motors Chevymobile litigation and also participated in the START Arms Control Negotiations with the Soviet Union.

He started formally teaching the subject of negotiations during a two week course for attorneys in 1963 sponsored by Allstate Insurance Company. It was then he first used the terms “Win-Win. Win-Lose, Lose-Lose”.

Herb Cohen’s analysis, insights and humorous view of many of these high-level happenings have appeared in many international publications, and he himself has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, People, The Economist, The New Yorker, Esquire, Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Newsweek, Rolling Stone and even Playboy Magazine.

He is the author of You Can Negotiate Anything which was on the New York Times best-seller list for almost one year and has been translated into thirty languages. His latest book, Negotiate This! By Caring But Not T-H-A-T Much was published in mid-September 2003.

During the Cold War, Herb Cohen served with the U.S. Army, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment on the East-West Border in Bad Kissingen, Germany.

While attending university and law school he worked in many business and governmental organizations and ultimately became a faculty member at the University of Michigan’s Graduate School of Business. Since then he has lectured at many educational institutions and enterprises such as The Harvard Negotiating Project, Yale Law School, The Kellogg School, Wharton, the University of Wisconsin, the University of California-San Diego, McGill University, UBC and the Columbia and Chicago University School of Business.

Expertise:  BUSINESS | Communication | Conflict Resolution | ECONOMY | Global Economy/Trade | HUMAN RESOURCES | Negotiation/Strategy | SALES / MARKETING