Editor’s note: This fictional mini case study dramatizes a dilemma faced by leaders in real companies. Please contribute by offering insights and solutions from your own experience.

Amanda: Oh my lord, Howard. It’s getting late. We’ve been talking in circles all day. It’s beautiful here by the pool on your little corner of the Cape, but I need to get in the car and start heading back to the city in about 10 minutes. As conscientious board members, we have to come to some kind of a plan for what we’re going to do about our wayward CEO — and his crush.