Greg Stevenson says every senior executive is avoiding at least one critical decision, whether it's a difficult conversation or personnel change. They justify the delay with timing or incomplete information, but the real reason is discomfort. The decision stays unmade until the cost of doing nothing finally exceeds the cost of acting.
There is almost always one. I've never worked with a senior executive who didn't have one when we got honest about it. A conversation that hasn't been had. A person who needs to go but hasn't. A strategy that isn't working but hasn't been called yet. A structural problem that everyone can see but nobody has moved on. The reasons for the deferral feel legitimate. When the timing, the timing isn't right, more information is needed, you don't need to destabilize the team. There's a big quarter coming up and now isn't the moment. I understand those reasons. I've used them myself. But underneath most of them is something simpler. The decision is uncomfortable. It will create friction, might be wrong. And uncomfortable decisions have a natural human tendency to not get made until the cost of not making them becomes higher than the cost of making them.
