Gerard I. Nierenberg, Negotiation Expert, Dies at 89
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Gerard I. Nierenberg, a lawyer whose frustration with the adversarial nature of legal disputes led him to develop methods of negotiating that he promoted in training seminars and popular books, including “The Art of Negotiating” and “How to Read a Person Like a Book,” died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 89.
Gerard I. Nierenberg preached a structured, organized style of business negotiation.
His wife, Juliet, confirmed his death.
Mr. Nierenberg founded the Negotiation Institute in Manhattan in 1966 and spent four decades delivering a succinct message. “In a successful negotiation,” he would say, “everybody wins.”
He had been running a real estate law practice in New York in the early 1960s when he came to the conclusion that he and many other people spent an enormous amount of time negotiating at work and at home and yet had no formal training in how to do it. Too often, he found, negotiating meant trying to win at all costs.
“If you’re going to try to make everyone else lose who plays with you, and you think life’s a game, how far do you think you’re going to get in life?” he said in an interview in 1983. “Everyone’s going to try to beat you. And, boy, that makes a hell of a life.”
Mr. Nierenberg published “The Art of Negotiating” in 1968 and soon began advising corporations, government entities and academic groups. He argued that women were naturally suited to be successful negotiators.
“If you take a man and a woman without any formal training and put them in the same situation, you will find the woman tends to rely on intuition,” he told The New York Times in 1971. “In the end, this is what a mature negotiator finally does. He relies on intuition.”
“How to Read a Person Like a Book,” written with Henry H. Calero and published in 1972, advised people on how to read body language.
“I can feel exactly what a person is feeling at the moment by just looking at him,” he said in an interview in 1987.
Gerard Irwin Nierenberg was born on July 24, 1923, in Queens. His father ran a business selling burglar alarms.
Besides his wife, he is survived by three sons, Roy, Roger and George, and six grandchildren. George Nierenberg is now the president of the Negotiation Institute. Roger Nierenberg is a conductor who has developed a teaching program that uses an orchestra as a model for improving group dynamics and function in other fields.
Roger Nierenberg said that much of his father’s thinking about negotiating was rooted in his interest in general semantics, a field within linguistics that views words as labels that distract attention from the things they represent. His father, Roger said, was interested in “how we know what we know” and how that “locks us into self-limiting the kinds of choices we can make.”
Juliet Nierenberg said that she and her husband had their share of arguments, but that they both tried to practice what he preached at home.
“I could always rely on reminding him, or he would remind me, about the principles of negotiation,” she said.
A version of this article appeared in print on September 25, 2012, on page B17 of the New York edition with the headline: Gerard I. Nierenberg, 89, Negotiation Expert.
Media Contact
+1 (212) 808-5158press@negotiation.com
101 Park Ave., 27th Floor
New York, NY 10017Live Feed
Join The Negotiation Institute, Columbia University, and The NY Liberty for a “Night of Negotiation.” June 13th @ 6:15 PM. @CU_SPS_NECR @NegotiationCOM @nyliberty @TheWINSummit #Negotiation #ShowUp #TNI #TNINON
TNI presents: Night of Negotiation with @BethFishYoshida of @Columbia "Winging It" is Not a Strategy; Preparing for Your Negotiation Westchester County Center, June 13, 6:15 PM. Pre-game negotiation workshop, & a ticket to @nyliberty vs @lvaces game #Negotiation #ShowUp
Last week, TNI Director of Business Development, @cindy_wiesel taught a class on "Utilizing Negotiation to Prepare for Persuasive Arguments" @BaruchCollege. Special thank you to @CheyenneVC for inviting her to speak to your students! @CUNY #Negotiation #WINSummit
This playbook from @lydia_west’s session is a game changer. I wish I had this when I started my career!! Thank you, Lydia! #WINSUMMIT #negotiations #payscale #career #alwayslearning @RedShoeMovement #women #business #LeadershipDevelopment Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
@niki_borofsky @NegotiationCOM Great meeting and spending time with you today! Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
#Negotiation is just 1 of 10 STEM #skills vital for your #success. All 10 are included in YP2G’s Program YP2Grow.com Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
It’s a beautiful day for negotiating! #WINSummit Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
Samantha Saperstein from @jpmorgan sharing her insights into knowing your passion and thinking about how to use it. Passion becomes expertise and it will take you places you didn't expect. #WINSummit Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
@BethFishYoshida greeting the women #WINSummit with a letter from @SenGillibrand and some words of advice- think about how and when you will use your takeaways and build your network with #LinkedIn Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
Opening Remarks by the Chairman of The Negotiation Institute, Jack Simony and Dr. Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Academic Coordinator of the WIN Summit & Director of the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution program at Columbia University. #winsummit #winsummit2018 #womeninnegotiation Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
Ready for a full day of Womens Insights into the Art of Negotiation. #winsummit #winsummit2018 Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
“Write a press release about what you want to accomplish and make the plan” - @SRoSap — Great opening keynote at #winsummit2018 #WINSummit Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
@albohbot from @CityGirlCoffee_ speaking about how to build your brand and differentiate your product/company from all others. #WINSummit Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
76 percent of women are less likely to negotiate salary @TheWINSummit @CarolSankar @MoneyQueenGuide @ToddWiesel #negotiation #WINSUMMIT #WednesdayWisdom Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
We’re here at the WIN Summit @winsummit today, in partnership with @columbia and @negotiationCOM! @sandramgault is speaking among this amazing group of women about WINinng negotiations. @_workingmother_ @citygirlcoffee_ and @nicolemcorbett! #winsummit #theartofnegotiation Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
@GirlScoutsNYC cookie executive meeting Sam Saperstein @jpmorgan and Ava Abramowitz @gwlaw to discuss negotiation and network for articles for her blog. #WINSummit Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
I’m here at the WIN Summit @winsummit today, in partnership with @columbia and @negotiationCOM! Speaking about @TrueGault and more among this amazing group of women about WINinng negotiations. @_workingmother_ @citygirlcoffee_ and @nicolemcorbett! #winsummit #theartofnegotiation Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
Join us w/ our very own Girl Scouts of Greater New York CEO @MeridithMaskara at @TheWINSummit on May 2nd as we change the way that women negotiate in the workplace. #WINSUMMIT #Negotiation Learn more: winsummit.com/about Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
Great insight from @DGreenbaum of @businessinsider on #EqualPayDay. Misinformation around the #genderpaygap and how Negotiation training can help solve it. Shout out to @payscale, WIN Summit’s own @BethFishYoshida who are quoted in the article. #WINSummit businessinsider.com/equal-pay-day-… Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
@Ogilvy Yes! @Ogilvy should join @NegotiationCOM for the 2018 @TheWINSummit, empowering professional women's negotiation skills. 🔥 $150 OFF code: INFINIA 🔥 Please register & use! DM 4 more info! winsummit.com/register/ #internationalwomensday #IWD2018 #negotiation #ClosetheGap Retweeted by NegotiationInstitute
skills for a competitive edge
in today's global marketplace