January 9, 2026

Business by the Book

Genesis 18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

Years ago the organization that I worked for gathered all of the top managers together for a management training seminar. One exercise in this seminar was to separate the managers into two groups, one group was made up of the younger managers the other with the older managers. We were then given the following scenario: our two groups were stranded on a remote island and we were all infected with a deadly disease. The only cure for the disease was an extract found in an orange. There was only one orange on the island and there was only enough medicinal value found in the orange to apply to one group. Therefore, one group would live, and one group would perish. It was up to us to negotiate which group would live and we could not switch members from group to group.

I was in the younger group, our argument was that we were younger therefore we were stronger, could live longer and hopefully be rescued (a rather lame argument actually). The other group contended that they were older and wiser, which would allow them to live longer and hopefully find a way to escape the island. The two groups went back and forth and the debate got so heated that the younger group actually contemplated overwhelming the older group with force and taking the orange. After the set time limit of about two hours expired (we had not been told that there was a time limit) the instructor announced that we all died.

Upon review we learned that in the details of our exercise guidelines it was subtly included in the younger group’s notes that we needed the extract from the orange peel to cure our illness. The older group needed an extract from the orange pulp. Both groups, all the managers, could have lived, but we all died.

Why? Because we did not ask the right questions! Neither did Abraham. This patriarch asked the Lord seven questions (directly or inferred). They were good questions and they received the desired response from the Lord. But there were other questions that Abraham could have asked. NOTE:  There are valuable spiritual and theological ramifications of this story which are not being addressed, we are simply looking at it academically, gleaning what we can about the strategies and principles of negotiation. “How many righteous are there?” “Is there any other way to deal with the issues short of total destruction?”  “Is there anything I can do to avert this final action?”  “What is the timetable, and is it flexible?” These are questions that Abraham could have asked.

Questions are powerful. In negotiations, they are vital to learning key information that may pave the way for both parties to obtain that which they want or need. Tomorrow, types of questions and when to use them.

Dr. William Howe