As the Inc. Magazine article points out, Bob Iger’s resignation is a powerful lesson in self-awareness and leadership. Knowing when to quit is one of the most difficult decisions a leader can make. Pulling the plug on your own career is an extreme example. We’ve all seen leaders or professional athletes let the fear they may not have reached their potential outweigh the fear that they already did, as they hang in a few years or seasons too long.
To put it in perspective, think about how much trouble we have making the decision to quit things or activities with lessor consequences. Have you ever held on to a stock too long, or poured good money into it after bad? I’ve bought a few all the way down. Knowing when to buy is only part of the equation. Knowing when to sell (quit) is equally important. Have you ever stayed in an unproductive relationship too long? Knowing when to throw in the towel is incredibly difficult.
This dynamic can be partly explained by “sunk cost bias” which is a thinking trap that keeps us in the game. We value our previous investment of money, time, or effort and are determined to get a return. We are so focused on what we put in that we lose sight of our longer-term objectives. The supersonic SST Concord airplane was flown commercially at a loss for twenty years before the plug was pulled. The question we need to constantly ask ourselves is, if I were looking at this opportunity as a brand-new opportunity, with no previous investment in it whatsoever, would I invest in it today?
In his book “The Dip”, Seth Godin talks about success in terms of strategic quitting. He makes the point that success is not only determined by what we do, but by what we decide not to do. Strategically quitting activities that are not paying dividends eliminates opportunity cost and allows for full focus on, and investment in, activities that do. Bob decided that his highest and best use is focus on Disney’s creative activities and was willing to step down to do just that.
Most of us will never make a decision the magnitude of Bob’s. But we all have employee/employer, partner, or client relationships that can be evaluated. Have you stayed in some longer than you should’ve? Is there an initiative that’s lagging? Have you become more attached to it, than to the result you were hoping to achieve? What else are you hanging on to that isn’t providing lift? Should you quit?
Strategic decisions to quit should be made consciously and intentionally. This requires a great deal of self-awareness and leadership, both of self and business.