For founders and CEOs
Send me one real decision. I’ll personally write a private breakdown showing where it returned, why escalating made sense, and what I’d test first.
Free. Private. No call required. Delivered within three business days.
ONE WEEK
Four decisions, from four different teams, each returning to the same desk: the CEO.
MONDAY at 09:14VP SALES
Can you approve this?
TUESDAY at 11:37OPERATIONS
What would you do?
WEDNESDAY at 15:42FINANCE
We just wanted to run this past you.
THURSDAY at 16:18COMMERCIAL
They’re pushing back. Should we change it?
I call that a Decision Return.
Nobody ever said who decides, so escalating is safer than choosing.
They can run the work. Nobody authorised them to be wrong about it.
Conditions move. Nobody knows whether the original authority moves with them.
You have a very expensive queue.
Before you hire a COO to catch what keeps landing on you, find out why it keeps landing on you.
SEE EXACTLY WHAT YOU’LL GET
See what a real Decision Breakdown looks like — no names, no faces, just the format: three example decision loops, one worked through in full, ending at a test rather than a verdict.
Reported
Weekly KPIs
Where it returns
The deadline passes. Then you finish the report and hand out the actions yourself.
Interpretation
The loop has an owner and a deadline, but the deadline doesn't do anything. When it passes, the only thing that changes is whose desk it lands on.
Owner
Your leaders.
Authority / boundary
Delegated without clear guidelines. When it's missed, nothing happens — it just lands on you.
Test
Leave a missing input blank in the review.
Ask what got in the way. Give every action a name and a date — assigned by the leader, not you.
whether it looks isolated or worth a deeper Audit
Decision Breakdown
Trace the return
Free
Send me one decision that keeps landing back on you. Within 3 working days you get a private page, written for your situation: where it comes back, why your team is doing it, and one thing to test. No call.
Decision Audit
Map the pattern
Free · 45 minutes
Ran the test? Bring back what happened. We map how many other decisions have the same shape, and what order to untangle them in. You leave with the map.
Decision Sprint
Stabilise the work
Paid · 30 days
We fix them, in that order, with you and your team.
An ordinary decision under unclear authority reaches the owner but has nowhere to settle, so it continues past them. The same decision under clear authority reaches the owner’s receiving edge and stops there. A genuine exception legitimately crosses the boundary and escalates.
BeforeEvery risky call waits for you.
AfterOnly real exceptions reach you.Exception
BeforeManagers own tasks, not hard choices.
AfterManagers know which calls are theirs.
BeforeAsking feels safer than deciding.
AfterPeople know what they can decide alone.
BeforeDecisions reopen when work begins.
AfterClosed decisions stay closed.
The test is simple.
The same kind of call appears again.
HoldThe risk is still real.
HoldYour team handles it without you.
The decision simply stops coming back.
I spent years in enterprise support and engineering, where unclear ownership turns small issues into senior problems fast.
I kept seeing the same pattern: someone owned the outcome but not the authority, the risk moved upward, and a senior person stepped in because waiting had become more expensive than deciding.
That pattern became Decision Stability.
My work is straightforward:
No huge change programme.
No new committee.
No sticky-note festival.
The conversations behind the work
On Decision Load, I talk with founders, researchers, and operators about pressure, responsibility, and why decisions stall, reopen, and keep moving upward.
Dr. David Burkus
On why companies that cut their managers are bringing them back, and what the layers in between were quietly doing all along.
Watch the Conversation — Companies Cut Managers. Now They Want Them Back (opens in a new tab)
Chris Yeh
On why smart founders become decision bottlenecks, and why teams learn to escalate instead of taking ownership.
Watch the Conversation — Great Founders Leave Some Problems Deliberately Unfixed (opens in a new tab)
Dr. Michael Gerharz
On why teams who understand the strategy keep asking for permission anyway, and why more communication doesn’t fix it.
Watch the Conversation — Smart Teams Still Ask Permission (opens in a new tab)Send me one real call that keeps coming back, and I’ll show you why it returned and what I would test first.
Free. Private. Delivered within three business days.
