This is, in fact, a very obvious and well known facet of management technique in the white collar world. Often, when faced with a hard or completely distasteful

This is, in fact, a very obvious and well known facet of management technique in the white collar world. Often, when faced with a hard or completely distasteful call, it's possible to structure your communication on a way that you never actually tell anyone to do the thing, but it gets done anyway. It is a cornerstone that marks the difference between an exec who can and an exec who cannot CYA. This is also why "Can I get that in writing", or asking something outright in an email is a fantastic way to corner a squirrely exec.