#262 Herbie Cohen (World's Greatest Negotiator)

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso, or four energy drinks before or during the show, so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th.
Dad took me to buy a car. It was to be my first negotiation, an experience akin in his mind to losing one's virginity. He made a long list in preparation for this transaction, a catalog of features my first car had to have. Each characteristic of each candidate was given a value between 1 and 22 According to this list, the perfect vehicle for me was a used Honda Civic with less than 70,000 miles. We looked and looked, and then amazingly he balked when we actually found it.
I don't get you, I said. It checks every one of our boxes.
You haven't learned a thing, he said. This car has all the what, but it is seriously deficient in the how.
What are you talking about? Did you see all that writing? The car was covered with names, red letters on the driver's door that said Bobby, blue letters on the passenger door that said Barry, yellow letters on the hood that said Billy, this presumably being the name of the car itself.
So what, I said? We can have it repainted.
You're missing the point, he said. A schmuck owned this car. That is an excerpt from the book that we will talk to you about today, which is The Adventures of Herbie Cohen, World's Greatest Negotiator, and it was written by his youngest son, Rich Cohen.
So I found this book by accident. A few weeks ago, on episode 255, I reread the fantastic book, The Fish That Ate the Whale, The Life and Times of America's Banana King, which serves as a biography of Samuel Zemuri. And it's one of my favorite books I've ever read for the podcast, or otherwise. And so I decided, hey, let me go see if Rich Cohen has any other books that might be interesting to read for the podcast. And I found his latest book, which is the one I'm holding in my hand, and the reason I bought it, because it was so interesting, is that he writes a biography of his dad. And as soon as I picked up and started reading the book, it's very hard to put down, and I knew immediately that I was going to read this book for the podcast. It is 57 short stories, spread over 225 pages, where Rich introduces us to his world famous dad, who also has this giant personality that jumps right off the page. So I want to go right to the beginning of the book. This is one of the most bizarre openings to any book that I've ever read, and it's just Herbie. It's a quote from Herbie Cohen talking to his son in conversation. He says, When I die, your mother will meet a man who will buy her gifts and flowers, who will do all the little things that I was never good at, and who will ask her to marry. I tell you so you know now that this man is a schmuck.
And as you can see from that, he's also hilarious. This is an overview of his career and why I think it's so interesting to study him. In professional circles, he is Herb Cohen, an expert in the art of the deal and the author of You Can Negotiate Anything, a publishing phenomenon that came out of nowhere in 1980 to sell more than a million copies. He's a speaker, a guru of the corporate retreat, a consultant to governments and companies, the gun hired to work out the terms and close the deal. The wise man helicoptered in to settle the strike. He helped resolve the Major League Baseball Empire Strike in 1979, as well as the New Orleans Police Strike the same year. He advised Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis in 1980 and 1981 He advised Ronald Reagan during the summits with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 and 1986