What I learned from reading The Adventures of Herbie Cohen: World's Greatest Negotiator by Rich Cohen.
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 one 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 dont get you, I said.
It checks every one of our boxes.
You havent 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 drivers 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 I'm going to talk to you about today, which is the adventures of Herbie Cohen, world's greatest negotiator.