I agree, but I must point out that in some cases the alternative to the "time and effort" involved in the exec playing around with a particular end-user report tool is the time and effort involved in a series of meetings attended by the exec and everyone on the chain between the exec and whoever is actually building the reports.

If "not able to specify a report format to a software service, even with assistance-as-needed from more technical users" disqualified one from executive employment, would any firm actually be hurt by that?