“I have also read that nowadays one always involves a “Shadow Negotiator” in negotiations. These are people who have no personal interests, but understand negotiation. One asks the shadow negotiator what one should demand, and he finally makes suggestions. This is apparently how one makes progress. Shadow negotiators, for example, say that in salary negotiations one must always start with maximum demands, which are just short of the limit of impudence. One should only be able to justify it somehow, so that the other side has the impression that one is really serious and not just bluffing. This first number that one takes is then the “anchor number” around which everything revolves.”
– Tilmann Prüfer, columnist for Handelsblatt, in “Shadow Minister for Trump – We all actually need such a ‘Shadow Negotiator'”, Handelsblatt from 15., 16., 17. November 2024, page 15, No. 222
