Where in my post did I even remotely suggest that our team's agreeing to the silence was an "act of compassion"?

First, the bottom line for management of ANY company is CYA. That is the highest priority, period. Management that's any good will never knowingly make a decision that will jeopardize their position, at least without assurance that their (faulty - due to delay) decision will not become widely known.

Second, I specifically stated that the Js probably paid a premium for the silence (even though inclusion of an NDA in such deals is pretty common practice). Think of it this way: if the Js said "no deal without silence", or "we'll pay an extra $10M+ for the silence", or both, would our team's agreeing to this be an act of compassion, or a sound business decision? I think the latter. There was no "compassion" involved, zero. There was a business incentive.

I hope this clarifies....

And this stuff I think I KNOW!

SGE