What this story leaves out is that the EVP of Citicorp at the time was a MIT-trained scientist (physical metallurgy). So when this crisis bubbled up - there was no hesitation in action since there was a scientist/engineer in top leadership who was able to communicate to the board the severity of the situation.
"Together they flew to New York City to confront the executive officers of Citicorp with the dilemma. "I have a real problem for you, sir," LeMessurier said to Citicorp's executive vice-president, John S. Reed. The two men outlined the design flaw and described their proposed solution: to systematically reinforce all 200+ bolted joints by welding two-inch-thick steel plates over them."
http://www.damninteresting.com/a-potentially-disastrous-desi...