Case Analysis: Let There Be Alternatives

9. Let There Be Alternatives
Always have options when going into any negotiation table. Also define the threshold of what is tolerable or what concessions you would be willing to give. Esau in this encounter with Jacob had at least ten options different from selling the birthright before him which he probably never knew or utilised. The options were as follows:
i. Refuse to make the birthright a subject of negotiation or value to be exchanged for food. ii. Take a walk and refuse to negotiate at all – “keep your pottage while I keep my birthright.” iii. Opt to share equally or in agreeable ratios both the birthright and the pottage with Jacob - an option that Jacob would obviously refuse. And this would have given Esau sanity of mind to
Prefer to die of hunger rather than sell off the birthright. vii. Exercise restraint, apply patience and prepare his pottage by himself. viii. Behave as though he was never interested in the pottage while looking for an opportunity to have it at no cost to him. ix. Give a counter proposal to Jacob one of which could have been to give Jacob part of his venison any time he catches one in exchange for the pottage.
x. Bring Jacob to the court of public opinion so that the people would see the deviousness or genuineness of his request. This could have weakened Jacob’s hands and delayed or reduced the chances of success.
He never exploited any of these alternatives and he paid dearly for it.
10. Walk Away When On The Back Foot
Esau had the option to walk away when the terms of negotiations were unfavourable to him. But he never exercised this option.
When you are negotiating and you are not getting what you want you can opt to postpone the negotiation for wider consultations. This would help you to think through the whole process again and again, to weigh your options and to decide next line of actions more correctly. This could equally save you the embarrassment of conceding to what you would stand to regret later.
11. Don’t Be Too
It was bait thrown which Esau swallowed hook, line and sinker. Esau’s response to the proposition of Jacob helped reinforce or reconfirm where his preference lies. It helped confirm that on the scale of one to two, food would come first before birthright as far as Esau was concerned.
12. Be Knowledgeable
Esau played ignorance to deftly crafted words of “sell” and “oath” in the contract terms and conditions as proposed by Jacob. To sell means to transfer to a purchaser in exchange of money or other considerations. What was to be sold here was the birthright in consideration of pottage. Inserting oath taking as part of the transfer process was a sure way of calling in divinity into the pact such that Esau would not come up later to lay claim to what he had sold freely. The oath was like affixing seal to the contract of sale thus making it legally enforceable. It was their two signatures on the terms of agreement.
With involvement of divinity in this transaction, Esau would not come back at any time in the future to reclaim what was sold. To reclaim the birthright would only be possible if Jacob was willing to surrender through the same process of obtaining the