Innovative Leadership Institute launches boardroom think tank on decision speed

The Innovative Leadership Institute has launched a think tank focused on how boards and executive teams make faster, better decisions in complex environments. Its first research priority, Decision Velocity, is designed to help organizations diagnose where leadership systems create friction and how to improve execution. Why it matters: - Boards and senior leaders are under pressure to make decisions faster as conditions change more quickly and uncertainty rises. - ILI’s new Think Tank is aimed at governance, operating, and leadership-system changes that can improve how organizations sense change, decide, execute, and adapt. - The research is intended to help organizations spot friction in decision systems before it slows execution and growth. What happened: - The Innovative Leadership Institute announced the launch of The Innovative Leadership Institute Think Tank™, a research and advisory initiative focused on leadership systems, governance capabilities, and decision practices. - The launch took place June 17, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio. - The Think Tank’s first research focus is Innovative Leadership Decision Velocity™, which examines how organizations sense change, interpret conditions, make timely decisions, execute with discipline, and learn quickly. - The initiative is now accepting executive briefing requests from boards and senior leadership teams. - More information is available at the Think Tank page . The details: - ILI says Decision Velocity is built around six practices: Sensing, Sensemaking, Sense-Giving, Decision-Making, Acting and Execution, and Learning and Adaptation. - The research also identifies five recurring failure modes that can slow organizations even when leadership is strong. - The work examines how leadership systems can either accelerate or constrain an organization’s ability to recognize change, align interpretation, clarify decision rights, mobilize execution, and adapt through learning. - The framework is meant to give boards and leadership teams a way to diagnose where decision systems are creating friction. - The research also points leaders toward governance, operating, and leadership-system interventions most likely to close those gaps. - The announcement follows a Forbes.com article by ILI Think Tank President Christopher Washington, Ph.D., who is an official member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council. - Washington’s article framed Decision Velocity as a key executive challenge and helped shape ILI’s research agenda. Between the lines: - The launch reflects a shift from treating slow decisions as an individual leadership issue to treating them as a system design problem. - ILI is positioning leadership effectiveness as something boards can measure and manage more deliberately, similar to financial oversight. - The emphasis on decision rights, signal detection, and execution suggests the Think Tank is targeting common breakdowns that show up when organizations scale or face rapid change. What’s next: - ILI is seeking board and executive teams for briefing sessions tied to the new research. - The organization is expected to continue building out its Decision Velocity agenda as part of the Think Tank’s broader advisory work. - More public-facing research and guidance may follow as the initiative develops. The bottom line: - ILI is betting that the next edge for boards is not just better leadership, but faster, more disciplined leadership systems.