In my experience it is often subtly simpler than this.

Rising to the top of a company is rarely the meritocracy we'd like to think, (or, at least, the merit required to rise is different than the merit required to lead a company successfully). Often people rise to the top who don't want to make decisions, don't have a vision and very much are used to leading by consensus.

So there is not a masterful plan to avoid blame for the difficult thing they know they need to do, they just don't know what to do - they are incapable of making decisions.