Real option
A path the executive could actually choose, described with its conditions for success, its breaking points, what it makes irreversible and the signal that would indicate it is time to change. The opposite of a foil, that is, an option presented to make the preferred solution look good.
What it changes for the executive
An options file almost never contains any: it contains the preferred solution and two foils. Two or three real options, comparable on the same criteria, are the only protection against a decision taken before being instructed. The right decision often lies among the options nobody put on the table: leasing instead of buying, deferring, sizing differently, redefining a scope instead of replacing a person.
Example
Faced with an investment in a machine, the real options are purchase, leasing, subcontracting, deferral and a smaller size; comparing purchase with not investing is not a comparison.
A term that is missing?
Describe the situation in a few lines; the reply is personal.