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The Leadership Podcast

The Leadership Podcast

We Study Leaders

TLP489: Quitting – Knowing When to Walk Away

December 10, 2025

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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…

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: accountability, annie duke, cognitive psychology, cost benefit analysis, decision making, Executive Coaching, Goal Setting, grit, innovation, Jan Rutherford, Jim Vaselopulos, kill criteria, leadership, mental time travel, opportunity cost, optimism bias, poker, psychological distance, Quit The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, quitting, sunk cost fallacy, The Leadership Podcast, thinking in bets, uncertainty, venture capital

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Big news! The Leadership Podcast is now #2 in Sale Big news! The Leadership Podcast is now #2 in Sales Weekly, #3 in Sales Monthly, #5 in Management Monthly, #6 in Military History Weekly, and #8 in Sales All Time on Goodpods. Thank you for your amazing support! #Leadership #Podcast #Goodpods
Think back to the biggest leap you ever took in yo Think back to the biggest leap you ever took in your career. Chances are someone pushed you into a role before you felt ready, and it turned out to be the moment that defined everything. The hiring system today is almost perfectly built to prevent that from happening. We screen for experience. We pass on talent. And then wonder why the best people aren't showing up. The full conversation goes even deeper on how to redesign work so you stop losing people at the worst possible moment. https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-506?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#Leadership #CareerDevelopment #TheLeadershipPodcast #SteveCadigan #TalentStrategy #Coaching #HiringStrategy
Admiral McRaven tried to use "micromanagement" as Admiral McRaven tried to use "micromanagement" as an excuse in 1985 after reading Harvard Business Review. His commanding officer shut that down fast. Turns out, setting clear expectations isn't micromanaging, it's actually doing your job as a leader. The full story is worth hearing. Listen: https://bit.ly/TLP-500?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#Leadership #Micromanagement #AdmiralMcRaven #NavySEAL #LeadershipMyths #TheLeadershipPodcast #MilitaryLeadership #Episode500
We were never rewarded for questioning ourselves. We were never rewarded for questioning ourselves. We were rewarded for making things happen. And for a while, that works. Muriel M. Wilkins says that's exactly why so many high performers hit a ceiling they can't explain. The game changed. The operating system didn't. Episode 503 on The Leadership Podcast. https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-503?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#LeadershipPodcast #HiddenBlockers #LeadershipUnblocked #ExecutiveCoach #MindsetWork #LeadershipMindset #SelfAwareness #CoachingConversations #ThinkBetter #LeadFromWithin
Every time a leader complains about Gen Z being di Every time a leader complains about Gen Z being disloyal, Steve Cadigan has the same question. Are you talking about the children you raised? This generation grew up watching entirely new industries appear from nothing. Of course they want to explore. Calling that disloyal is like moving someone from their grandma's basement to a Vegas buffet and being surprised they want to try more than one thing. Steve does not hold back in the full episode. Catch TLP506 on The Leadership Podcast. https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-506?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#Leadership #GenZ #TalentStrategy #TheLeadershipPodcast #SteveCadigan #FutureOfWork #WorkCulture
Seven beliefs that block every high performer. Mur Seven beliefs that block every high performer. Muriel M. Wilkins spent 22 years coaching C-suite leaders and kept seeing the same patterns surface. The problem isn't that these beliefs exist. It's that they stop working when the context changes, and most leaders don't notice until the damage is done. Which one do you recognize in yourself? Full episode 503 on The Leadership Podcast. https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-503?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#LeadershipPodcast #HiddenBlockers #LeadershipUnblocked #ExecutiveCoach #MindsetWork #LeadershipMindset #SelfAwareness #CoachingConversations #ThinkBetter #LeadFromWithin
Remember when the internet was full of weird rabbi Remember when the internet was full of weird rabbit holes? Sara Sabin warns that AI's laser focus might be killing our curiosity. If all you see is what you already agree with, you're not stretching your mind, you're shrinking it. Sometimes, the best growth comes from what challenges us, not what comforts us.Catch the full conversation on https://bit.ly/TLP-477?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleadersWatch the full conversation https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-477?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#Leadership #CriticalThinking #AIandCreativity #Curiosity #TheLeadershipPodcast
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Most coaches talk about coachability but almost no Most coaches talk about coachability but almost nobody checks for it before they start. Will Linssen does, and he says two things kill it every time. One is ego. The second one is more external and honestly makes a lot of sense when you hear it. Catch the full episode https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-505?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#leadershipcoaching #coachability #executivecoaching #leadership #westudyleaders #theleadershippodcast #shorts
You think you know how you'll react under fire unt You think you know how you'll react under fire until the stuff actually hits the fan. Admiral McRaven says pressure doesn't build character, it reveals it. The good news? The more you face it, the better you get at not falling apart. Every chance to lead is a chance to find out who you really are, not who you think you are.Listen: https://bit.ly/TLP-500?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#Leadership #Pressure #AdmiralMcRaven #Character #TheLeadershipPodcast #NavySEAL #LeadershipDevelopment #Episode500
Most leaders treat firing as the final answer when Most leaders treat firing as the final answer when someone isn't working out. Mark Morgenfruh says the real question is why you put them there in the first place. 33 years in HR and this is still the conversation most organizations refuse to have.Listen here - https://bit.ly/TLP-502?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#leadership #hrleadership #neverfireanyone #leadershipdevelopment #accountability #theleadershippodcast
You emailed them. You cc'd HR. You told yourself y You emailed them. You cc'd HR. You told yourself you handled it. Mark Morgenfruh calls this keyboard cowboy leadership and it's more common than most leaders want to admit. The second one, happy talk, is even worse because it feels like kindness. Episode 502 will make you rethink both. https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-502?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #remoteleadership #workplaceculture #theleadershippodcast #neverfireanyone #leadershipcoach
Most leaders hit a wall at some point. Not because Most leaders hit a wall at some point. Not because they lack skills, not because the people around them aren't capable, but because the belief running quietly in the background still hasn't caught up to the level they're leading at now.Muriel M. Wilkins has spent 22 years coaching C-suite leaders and she keeps seeing the same pattern: the action changes, the belief doesn't. And then people wonder why nothing sticks.This conversation gets into what she calls hidden blockers, seven assumptions so familiar they feel like personality.Episode 503 with @MurielMWilkins is out now. Tap the link https://bit.ly/TLP-503?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleadersWatch it on YouTube - https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-503?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#LeadershipPodcast #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipUnblocked #LeadershipDevelopment #SelfAwareness #GrowthMindset #LeadBetter #ThinkLikeALeader #CoachingLeaders #MurielMWilkins
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People kept asking Admiral McRaven how to lead mil People kept asking Admiral McRaven how to lead millennials and Gen Z differently. His answer? You don't. Yeah, they listen to different music and have different ideas, but leadership fundamentals haven't changed since his parents' generation. Integrity, hard work, leading from the front, that stuff still works. Stop overthinking it.Full episode at https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-500?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#Leadership #Millennials #GenZ #AdmiralMcRaven #LeadershipMyths #TheLeadershipPodcast #NavySEAL #TimelessLeadership
Joe Pine just gave away the single most powerful f Joe Pine just gave away the single most powerful framework for turning experiences into transformations. It's called encapsulation, and it has four parts: Preparation → Experience → Reflection → Integration.Most companies stop at the experience. The magic happens in what comes before and after. Help people imagine beforehand. Help them reflect afterward. Help them integrate the change into their lives.Do this right and your experiences become life-changing. Skip it and you're just entertainment.Full breakdown in episode 499 of The Leadership Podcast. https://bit.ly/TLP-YT-499?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#Encapsulation #TransformationFramework #CustomerExperience #JoePine #BusinessStrategy #ExperienceDesign #TransformationEconomy
If you only change the behavior then you don't hus If you only change the behavior then you don't hustle through it, and six months later you're right back at the same wall wondering what went wrong. The behavior was never the problem. The belief driving it was.Muriel M. Wilkins explains it better than most. Ep. 503 on The Leadership Podcast. https://bit.ly/TLP-503?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=westudyleaders#LeadershipPodcast #HiddenBlockers #LeadershipUnblocked #ExecutiveCoach #MindsetWork #LeadershipMindset #SelfAwareness #CoachingConversations #ThinkBetter #LeadFromWithin
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