Herb Cohen

Internationally Renowned Negotiator and Author of You Can Negotiate Anything

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 The US Department of Justice.

While serving as an adviser to Presidents Carter and Reagan on combating terrorism, he was embroiled 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, his input and advice has been sought by the White House on a myriad of problems such as The Gulf Crisis, The seizure of the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru and, The Camp David Mideast Peace Talks.

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

As a result of his extensive practical experience and unique presentation style, Mr. Cohen is internationally renowned as someone who can articulate and explain complex events so that people are both informed and entertained.

He started formally teaching the subject of negotiating in a two week course for claims adjusters and attorneys in 1963 sponsored by Allstate Insurance Company. It was then that he first coined the terms “Win-Win, Win-Lose and 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 twenty-six languages.

Finally after two decades his latest book, Negotiate This! By Caring But Not T-H-A-T Much was published by Warner Books in mid-September 2003. Written in the same humorous style as his first book, critics have said, “It’s a must read for not only business people, but parents, politicians and consumers…” “It shimmers with great insights and truths”…”Herb is a gifted storyteller with a sense of mischief and an astute observer of the human scene…” “If you’re interested in ROI forget the market, gold or even real estate, just go out and buy and read this book”.

Over the years, Cohen has appeared as the General Motors Spokesman in their award winning television commercial that was shown throughout California. He has made audio tapes and CDs, videotapes and has been a guest on the Tonight Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Larry King Live, The 700 Club, Dr. Phil, and Sixty Minutes.

During the Cold War, Herb Cohen served with the US 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 University and Chicago University Schools of Business.

He has been the only outsider ever to address the Attorney General’s Annual Conference of all the United States Attorneys. In addition, he has spoken to the US Attorney’s Offices of the Southern District of NY, in Chicago and the Northern District of California.

Cohen and his wife Ellen have been married for well over 40 years. Their children are Sharon, a federal prosecutor with the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, Steve, formerly a federal prosecutor with the same office but now a partner in a New York Law Firm, and Rich, an award winning author of Tough Jews, The Avengers, Lake Effect, and The Record Men. Rich’s new book, Sweet and Low has recently been published receiving spectacular reviews in virtually every major publication in England, Canada and the United States.

Thus far, the Cohen’s have nine grandchildren. Cohen’s secret passions are planting trees, from Glencoe, Illinois to Austerlitz, New York, bungee jumping and collecting hockey pucks.