The Cost of Delayed Decisions in High-Complexity Industrial Environments

Rene Grywnow’s 5-Minute Business Punch · Aug 20, 2026 · 5m

Part I argued AI exposes weak leadership. Part II puts a number on one of the clearest symptoms: the decision that never gets made. Most operational decisions in a complex plant are reversible — a parameter adjusted back, a maintenance call revised — yet get deliberated like bet-the-company moves. The cost of a fixable mistake is almost always smaller than the cost of delay.

West Monroe’s 2026 study of 1,200+ leaders at $250M+ companies found nearly three in four estimate their organization loses up to 5% of annual revenue to slow decisions — the “Slowness Tax” — driven by leadership…