“I ask for more because most people leave money on the table out of politeness, not because the other side has reached their limit. The maximizer's job is to find where their breakpoint actually is, not where you assume it is.”
“Asking for more isn't greed; it's the only honest response to a value exchange that was never designed to be fair. The company trades depreciating dollars for irreplaceable time. They know that. The question is whether you do.”
“I grew up watching my single mom retire dramatically underpaid, so when I teach women to ask for more, I don't start with the ask. I start with the back pocket: signing bonus, performance pay, visibility, flexibility. Cash is often locked; value almost never is.”
“A strong BATNA is what gives you the right to ask for more. Without it, you're asking from weakness. I've walked away from deals because the terms were worse than my alternatives, and that's the only conversation that matters to the vendor. If you can't credibly walk, you've already lost, even if you win a few percent off the list price.”
“I need more context here.”
“When you ask for more, you're not just pushing harder. You're signaling that the other person underestimated what you bring to the table — and that's useful information. I learned this buying for luxury companies where suppliers tested limits constantly: every time someone asked for a discount, I knew they still wanted the deal. That's a compliment wrapped in friction.”
“In my first job as a lawyer, I learned what negotiating cost me when I found out a man hired at the same time got $8,000 more without ever asking for it. He asked; we didn't. Most of the time the biggest gap isn't between what you're offered and what's possible—it's between what you think you can ask for and what you actually say out loud.”