The Evidence Margin: A Minimal Provenance Protocol for Executive Decisions

Core insight: good decisions hinge not on infinite certainty but on a defensible minimum of evidence and provenance. The Evidence Margin is a one-page protocol that defines the smallest, verifiable evidence chain needed to act across three decision classes (reversible, strategic, reputational). In under ten minutes you’ll get: (1) a three-line rule for what qualifies as acceptable evidence per class (data point, source, and provenance token); (2) three short AI prompts to fetch and verify that evidence without hallucination; and (3) a human-in-the-loop quick-check that preserves judgment while preventing stealth risk. I’ll give concrete examples (pricing tweak, vendor selection, pilot feature launch), exact wording you can paste into templates, and a single action: pick one active decision today and capture its Evidence Margin before you commit. Result: faster, auditable choices that preserve optionality. CTA: subscribe. Signature cue: Stay agentic.