The most expensive delay leaders justify

I keep hearing a version of the same sentence from founders and CEOs right now.

“We’re not ready yet.”

It shows up in different places. A leadership change that keeps getting pushed. A strategy decision that keeps circling. A performance issue everyone can see but no one wants to name out loud. On the surface, it sounds responsible. Thoughtful. Measured.

But when I sit with it longer, the pattern is pretty clear.

The delay is rarely about missing data.

It is rarely about alignment.

And it is almost never about timing.

What I am seeing is leaders hesitating at the exact moment ownership becomes unavoidable.

There is a story leaders tell themselves when they want to wait. It usually sounds smart enough to pass a board meeting and calm enough to avoid conflict.

“We need more information.”
“We want the team fully bought in.”
“We should give it one more quarter.”
“This is too important to rush.”

None of those statements are false. That is what makes them so useful.

But underneath them is something quieter and harder to admit. If I make this call, I own the outcome. If I name this clearly, I cannot unsee it. If I move now, I give up the protection of ambiguity.

Waiting feels neutral. It feels like caution. It feels like leadership.

It is not.

Delay is a decision. It just feels less personal because no one’s name is attached to it.

The real cost of that delay is not lost speed. That is the obvious part and honestly not the most damaging. The deeper cost is what it signals to everyone watching.

Teams are very good at reading what leaders avoid.

When a decision lingers, people do not think, “Our CEO is being thoughtful.” They think, “This must be risky to touch,” or “No one is actually accountable here,” or “I should protect myself until someone else goes first.”

Momentum quietly drains. High performers stop pushing. Meetings get heavier. Energy shifts from building to managing around the issue.

And the leader feels it too.

The longer something sits unresolved, the more weight it gains. What started as a clear but uncomfortable call turns into something loaded with history, emotion, and projection. By the time it is finally addressed, it feels bigger than it ever needed to be.

This is the part most leaders underestimate.

Delay does not preserve optionality. It increases the cost of action.

I am not seeing leaders struggle because they cannot decide. I am seeing leaders struggle because they are standing right at the edge of responsibility and hesitating to step fully into it.

Ownership is lonely. Once you take it, you cannot outsource the consequences to timing, process, or consensus. That is the trade.

What is interesting is that the moment leaders do step in, even imperfectly, something shifts. Not because the decision was flawless, but because the fog lifts. People know where they stand. Energy moves again.

Clarity is not the same as certainty. Most organizations do not need more certainty. They need someone willing to say, “This is mine to decide.”

So here is the question I keep coming back to, and the one I will leave you with.

What decision are you calling “not ready” that is actually just uncomfortable?

Not wrong. Not reckless. Just uncomfortable.

That question tends to open more doors than another spreadsheet ever will.