I sat in a room with a lawyer close to the end of his long career and the CEO of a large healthcare system as we discussed how to handle a particular administrator of a single hospital given some allegations raised against him. The CEO after hearing a short summary gave his opinion; fire the administrator. The senior lawyer said to him “I am impressed with how confidently you can make this decision on so little information.” The CEO, missing the nuance took it as a compliment said sometimes a decision just has to be made.

Two months later, the decision had still not been implemented because the administrator in question had deep connections with some of the board members as well as some of the national leadership of his religious organization. Three months later as the CEO was exiting the health system, the administrator had been promoted to run an even larger hospital.

Had the CEO taken a moment to understand what it would take to execute his decision, it would have given him pause and he would have shored up his case a bit more. Yes, decisions sometimes need to be made but if they are to be executed or implemented by others, consider what else you need to do to ensure that the decision is actually followed through to action and whether you need and have the support necessary. Otherwise, the decision will fester and die.