At one global technology company, 12 executives recently crowded around a table to make the final decision on a heated issue: whether to add the C-suite role of chief innovation officer to their leadership team and expand the central unit that person would run. Their company, which made a variety of tools used in hospital settings, was confronting a changing environment that required it to ramp up its efforts to launch new and improved products. While the new role and the bigger unit would seemingly address that need, the discussion quickly devolved into a power struggle, with several participants arguing loudly and others quietly checking out. After 90 minutes of intense debate, the meeting ended without a decision.