A few months ago, I subscribed to an app — advertised as $70 a month. It was sleek, informative, and useful. What it didn’t advertise? That the monthly rate came with a hidden commitment. After a few test runs, I realized I didn’t need it. I tried to cancel it. Nope! That button didn’t exist. Turns out that one click locked me into a full year agreement. No refunds. No early exit. Just a wall of fine print I hadn’t read.
Now, I’m a contracts professional. I live in the world of clauses, terms, conditions and compliance. But like many of you, I didn’t have the time — or the patience — to comb through 30 pages of legalese just to try a productivity tool. I clicked “accept” and moved on. That moment of blind compliance? Cost me over $800. (Yeah… that stung!)
The High-Stakes Game of “Accept”
When time is short, “accept” becomes less a choice and more a reflex. Very often leaders are handed 150+ page legal documents, expected to spot risks, and make smart decisions — all in a few days. But the truth is, leaders rarely have the time or the team of legal experts to dissect every clause. So we make a judgment call. We take a leap of faith. And we click “accept.”
This “click-and-go” tendency reflects something deeper: a policy structure built for scrutiny but operated under relentless time pressure. The result? We take shortcuts. We trust our gut. And yeah… sometimes we miss the landmines buried in the fine print.
The federal government is addressing this exact issue with the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO). Government’s goal? Cut the fluff. Anchor regulation in actual law. This is a recognition that the current rulemaking environment asks too much of too few, too fast.
Leadership Lessons Embedded in the RFO
The RFO marks a notable deregulatory change and offers several leadership insights to consider:
- Simplify the signal. Whether it’s a contract, a policy, or a proposal, strip out the noise. If it doesn’t serve a legal or strategic purpose, it’s friction.
- Design for real-world behavior. If your process assumes everyone reads the fine print, it’s broken. Optimize for how people actually operate.
- Assume decisions are made under pressure. Your teams don’t have the luxury of perfect conditions. Design rule structures that support clarity and speed, not just accuracy.
The RFO isn’t just a procurement update. It surfaces the broader leadership question: How do you design rules people can realistically follow under pressure? So next time you’re tempted to rely on footnotes and hyperlinks to convey critical terms, ask yourself: Are you shaping rules that support real decisions or just scripting a legal scavenger hunt and calling it governance?
Adeline (Addy) Maissonet is a senior advisor on contracting policies and procedures within the Office of the Secretary of War, U.S. Department of War (DoW) and the agency’s representative on the Department’s views on proposed legislation to Congressional members, their staff, and committee staffers. She leads the development and implementation of Department-wide procurement policies for commodities and services, within her portfolio. Prior to her current role, Addy served as a Division Chief and Contracting Officer with unlimited warrant authority for the U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command (MICC) – Fort Eustis, Virginia. Prior to joining the MICC, Addy served as a Branch Head for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC), Norfolk, Virginia, with unlimited warrant authority. She also held other procurement positions with the U.S. Navy. Addy holds an MBA in Management and Contracting Level III Certification under the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act. She is a graduate from Cornell University’s Executive Leadership Certificate Program and Harvard University’s Business Analytics Certificate Program. In her free time, Addy enjoys hiking and overlanding with her family and friends.
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of War.
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