TLP489: Quitting – Knowing When to Walk Away

Annie Duke is a three-time bestselling author, decision strategist, and former professional poker champion. She holds a PhD in cognitive psychology and is co-founder of the Alliance for Decision Education. Annie's latest best-selling book is “Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away.”

In this episode, Annie reveals why knowing when to walk away is the most underrated leadership skill. Drawing on cognitive psychology and real-world coaching with executives and venture capitalists, she breaks down why we're wired to stick with bad decisions, and more importantly, how to override that wiring.

Annie explains how sunk costs, identity attachment, and status quo bias conspire to keep us committed past the point of reason. Listen now to stop grinding on goals that don't serve you, and start quitting your way to better outcomes.

Find The Leadership Podcast episode 489 on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Watch this Episode on YouTube | Annie Duke on Quitting – Knowing When to Walk Away 

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Key Takeaways

[02:01] Annie reveals she's an avid tennis player and has a Bernadoodle dog not mentioned in her public bio.

[02:54] Annie explains quitting is central to success because decisions are made under uncertainty and even perfect choices have bad outcomes 20% of the time.

[06:25] Annie discusses how over-optimism harms decision-making by overestimating both likelihood and quality of good outcomes.

[09:41] Annie describes Don Moore's research showing optimistic people just spend more time on unsolvable problems without performing better.

[11:44] Annie clarifies that quitting feels too early in the moment but people looking back realize they quit too late.

[14:27] Annie explains not quitting creates two problems: pursuing unhelpful goals plus losing opportunity cost of redirected resources.

[15:03] Annie recommends using psychological distance through quitting coaches and kill criteria involving mental time travel.

[16:19] Annie describes an exercise where executives set six-week benchmarks for underperforming employees, accelerating decisions.

[19:38] Annie advises adding "unless" statements to goals since cost-benefit analyses change over time.

[24:45] Annie addresses information paralysis by emphasizing the time-versus-accuracy trade-off in decisions.

[30:49] Annie acknowledges self-knowledge matters but notes people have competing preferences between short-term wants and long-term values.

[33:28] Annie explains how implicit decision-making allows bias to highlight factors supporting desired conclusions.

[36:49] Annie explains explicit frameworks resolve short-term versus long-term conflicts by creating future accountability.

[37:57] Annie tells negotiation clients every deal can be broken, paralleling keeping quitting as an option.

[38:30] Annie addresses opportunity cost neglect where people focus on immediate goals without considering sacrifices.

[44:32] Annie connects quitting to innovation since minimal starting information requires flexibility to pivot.

[46:22] And remember…”If at first you don't succeed, try again, then quit, there's no point in being a damn fool about it.” - W.C. fields.

 

Quotable Quotes

"When you make decisions to start things, you are making those decisions under conditions of uncertainty."

"When you're thinking about quitting, it will generally feel like it's too early. But when you're looking at someone from the outside, if you're coaching, it'll feel like they're too late."

"We quit way too late, as judged by our happiness."

"When we don't quit something that we ought to quit, we have a double problem. One problem is that we're doing something that isn't helping us achieve our goals. And the other problem is an opportunity cost problem."

"You don't want the goal itself to become an object because it is a representation of a cost benefit analysis."

"In order to be a really good innovator, you have to build in this whole idea of quit."

"Every deal can be broken, and even if you break it's not broken."

 

These are the books mentioned in this episode

 

Resources Mentioned

• The Leadership Podcast | theleadershippodcast.com

• Sponsored by | www.darley.com

• Rafti Advisors. LLC | www.raftiadvisors.com

• Self-Reliant Leadership. LLC | selfreliantleadership.com

• Annie Duke Website | www.annieduke.com

• Annie Duke X | @annieduke

• Annie Duke Facebook | www.facebook.com/AnnieDukeAuthor

• Annie Duke LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/annie-duke-30ab2b5/

• Annie Duke Instagram | @_annieduke