What Slow Decisions Really Cost.
The keynote on waiting’s concealed bill — and the three habits that shift a senior group from noticing to acting.
Waiting charges you fourfold
Openings spoil while committees confer. Unresolved items spawn progress meetings about progress meetings. The best operators quit rather than stand idle. And the eventual verdict, arrived at through fatigue, is poorer than the prompt one would have been.
This talk guides the audience through each charge with boardroom case studies — then fits the cure: a named owner per choice, a deadline set before debate begins, and a check on whether the door opens both ways.
- Best audience: leadership conferences, offsites, annual kick-offs.
- Format: 45–60 minutes plus chaired questions.
- Takeaway: a one-page decision sheet for every seat.
How the hour unfolds
01 · The bill
How deferral taxes opportunity, rework, talent and quality — told via two organisations that paid up in full.
02 · The diagnosis
Why teams hold out for courage instead of data, and how to tell the two apart in your own sessions.
03 · The three habits
Owner, deadline, two-way-door check — shown live, then squeezed onto the takeaway sheet.
Companion reading and talks
The keynote essay
The complete written telling of this talk’s case, takeaway sheet included — eight minutes of reading.
Governing What You Cannot Predict
The companion session for boards: oversight via rehearsal, tripwires and way-backs.
The Decision Audit
Prefer data to stories? A four-week forensic pass over your own organisation’s decision history.
