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In a business‑school class in negotiations, a common topic is the “Theory of Anchoring.” Basically, the opening bid in a negotiation “anchors” the price.
By the same token, collective decisions can be thrown off by having one person publicly state their views first. If we are trying to decide, as a firm, how much to bid for a company, and the first person to speak suggests $20 million, I may be embarrassed to say I thought it was worth only $2 million.
But knowing that we disagree is valuable! One approach to learning that is to ask people to write down their valuations privately and then share them simultaneously.
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