Why Decision-Making Frameworks Fail

HBR's managing editor examines why decision-rights tools — RACI charts, escalation ladders, and other frameworks — so frequently collapse in practice, and surfaces the structural fixes leaders can deploy immediately. The piece is directly actionable for mid-market CEOs who rely on informal authority rather than codified decision rights, a critical blind spot at scale. For boards, it reinforces the importance of auditing how strategic decisions actually flow before a crisis forces the issue.