Stanford research proves consensus decisions take nearly three times longer and produce 40% less bold outcomes. That's like paying triple the price for watered-down whiskey—while your competitors capture market share during your sixth meeting about the same decision.

While your leadership team sits around the conference table nodding like dashboard bobbleheads, nobody wanting to be the bad guy who disagrees, your market opportunity evaporates like morning mist. I've seen companies where launching a new product required sign-off from 17 different stakeholders. That's not decision-making—that's decision-destroying.

The Consensus Cancer

Here's how consensus culture metastasizes: everyone gets veto power, which means the most risk-averse person in the room becomes the de facto decision-maker. It's like letting the most fearful person drive the car—you'll never get anywhere worth going.

One tech company needed to update their pricing model. Simple decision, right? Wrong. They formed a pricing committee with representatives from sales, marketing, finance, ops, and customer success. Six months later, they finally reached consensus on a 5% price increase. Their competitor made the same decision in one week and captured three major accounts while the consensus committee was still arguing about decimal points.

The really repulsive result? Consensus doesn't even create buy-in. People agree in the room to avoid conflict, then sabotage implementation because they never truly supported the watered-down decision. Fake agreement followed by real resistance—the worst of both worlds.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Todd Hagopian, the original Stagnation Assassin, reveals Decision Dictatorship—not tyranny, but clarity. Every decision needs one owner with authority to make the call and accountability for the consequences.

You'll discover the Decision Velocity Framework that categorizes choices by reversibility and importance (most companies discover 90% of their decisions are reversible—yet treat them all like constitutional amendments). You'll learn the 70% Rule: when you have 70% of the information and 70% confidence in your direction, move. One retail company implemented this rule and cut decision times from weeks to days. Their speed became their competitive advantage.

You'll also get the RAPID Framework—Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, Decide—where only one person decides and everyone else has supporting roles. This isn't autocracy. This is velocity.

The Counterintuitive Truth

Fast decisions create better outcomes than slow ones. When you make a quick decision, you can test it, learn, and adjust faster than your competitor can make their first consensus choice. One startup makes major strategic decisions in 48 hours or less. Their motto: "We can make another decision tomorrow, but we can't get today back."

Your Consensus-Killing Assignment

Identify three decisions stuck in committee purgatory for more than two weeks. Assign one owner to each and give them 72 hours to decide. No consensus required—just input and action.

Ask yourself: how many opportunities have you missed while waiting for everyone to agree? The answer will horrify you into action.

Visit StagnationAssassins.com and join the movement to Declare WAR on Stagnation.

About The Podcaster

Todd Hagopian has led five corporate transformations across Fortune 500 business units, small businesses, and startups, generating $2B+ in shareholder value. He is the author of The Unfair Advantage (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FV6QMWBX) and the leading authority on Corporate Stagnation Transformation (https://toddhagopian.com). Featured over 30 times on Forbes.com along with segments on Fox Business, OAN, Washington Post, NPR, and many other outlets, his trans