You Can Negotiate Anything
Herb Cohen · 1980
"Every negotiation, no matter how it's dressed up, runs on just three variables — power, time, and information — and whoever understands them best usually wins, regardless of who seems to hold the stronger position."
Herb Cohen negotiated hostage releases for the U.S. government and once said he treated every deal, personal or geopolitical, the same way — as a game with three moving parts he could learn to read.
Power, in Cohen's framework, is often perceived rather than real — the party who acts like they have alternatives usually gets treated as if they do, whether or not that's true. Time creates pressure asymmetrically: the side facing a real or believed deadline concedes more, which is why most serious concessions in any negotiation happen near the deadline, not at the start. Information is the great equalizer — the side that has done more homework on the other party's actual constraints, alternatives, and pressures negotiates from a position that looks like power even without any formal leverage. Cohen's larger claim is that almost nothing is fixed-price if you understand which of these three levers is actually driving the other side's behavior.
Why does Cohen argue that most concessions happen near a negotiation's deadline?
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- You Can Negotiate AnythingBantam Books
Start with No
"Chasing agreement makes you weak — a negotiator who needs a 'yes' has already given up leverage, while one who invites 'no' keeps the decision, and the deal, fully in the other side's honest control."