One of the surprising benefits of raising a toddler is gaining the ability to instantly tell when another adult has fallen into a "toddler-like" state (myself included!).
Before having kids, I would try and explain someone's behavior in a logical sense.
Toddlers, however, are mostly driven by their current physical needs (hungry/sleepy) and whatever they're currently doing (autonomy).
We've found the most success in avoiding all boolean questions. Do you want to read a book? (when playing with trains before bedtime) Obvious no!
Do you want to read this book or that book? Oh... a decision!
It's striking how well tactics like these work outside the realm of toddlers.
We had a VP make a similar observation during an all hands. In the following all hands, he had to apologize because people felt they were being insulted by being compared to kids. The irony of the situation was not lost on some of us
illusion of choice is extremely effective on c-suite as well. I recommend it for engineers trying to push changes up corporate ladders. Give them three options, the one nobody should ever do, the compromise solution, and the "whale" option. Just like product pricing.
For very young toddlers distraction is also extremely effective but it stops working at some point. Not sure about how effective it is on c-suite someone will have to do some testing.
Never present an option you wouldn't want to live with. The internet teaches us that what "nobody should ever do" isn't obvious to everyone all the time.