Why “strategic quitting” is a winning approach

Should I stay or should I go? Knowing when it’s time to go is a strategic skill, writes Felicity Green. 

What makes successful poker players, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs? A significant common thread comes down to knowing when to stay and when to walk away. And this applies to impact-led strategy too, as the traditional notion of quitting as failure doesn’t hold true in many cases. 

The idea of quitting being tantamount to failure is a deeply flawed concept that doesn’t recognise the fact that staying in any role is a frequent positive choice. Every day you turn up to a job where you aren’t totally committed or can’t add real value or don’t buy into the purpose or vision of the organisation is another wasted day for all parties involved. 

In fact, recognising that things aren’t going to plan can open up the opportunity to adapt and allocate resources to a better choice. One for-purpose leader who has walked the tight rope between dogged persistence and strategic quitting is Infoxchange’s head of strategic partnerships and communications, Mike Davis. 

Throughout his impact journey Mike tried his hand at commerce and law, transitioned to health and social policy, embedded himself in senior roles in government, ran his own purpose-driven business, established an extremely successful podcast and has held multiple executive positions in the not-for-profit sector. 

It has only been through trying many different roles and opportunities and strategically quitting when warranted, that Mike was able to progress in his career and find his way to what he’s best at today. In the interview that shaped this Strategy Spotlight, Mike shared his view on how to navigate the tension of perseverance and letting go:

1. Persistence is always more important than raw talent… and just because you haven’t done something before, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Mike recalls his early childhood memories of being a terrible soccer player, barely able to kick a ball correctly, but hours in the backyard kicking to himself and watching a lot of talented players on TV helped him become a half decent player making his school seconds team. Early experiences such as these helped Mike recognise that your main limitations to progress are your beliefs about what you’re capable of. Fast forward to today and Mike’s podcast, Humans of Purpose, is ranked in the top 10 management podcasts in Australia and top 100 business podcasts with over 10,000 monthly downloads and nearly 300 episodes published to date and counting. Mike started Humans of Purpose with no podcasting, audio or production experience and no financial backing. Sheer tenacity, incremental improvement (1 per cent each week) ensuring he was delivering value and deriving joy from the process have driven some great results to date.
2. Know when to strategically quit, which requires both head and heart. From the heart perspective, Mike encourages us to reflect on our situation and ask, ‘what is the feeling you get from doing something?’ The latest science tells us that we have many thousands of neurons in our stomach and if something is not feeling right there, it’s an indication that something is not going well for you. It was the way that Infoxchange’s mission of tech for social justice instantly resonated with Mike that gave him confidence that his current role was the right choice to pursue. From the head perspective, Mike suggests reducing the amount of confirmation bias we have about our decisions. To critically assess the situation, we must be open to being wrong about something and be able to flexibly judge our own thoughts about our situation. Adopting a malleable, impartial and distanced mindset and collecting the evidence are key to this process. Like with any good strategy, there should be clear parameters established around what success and failure look like. Set goals, and if you don’t achieve them, forget the sunk costs and change tack. 
3. What helps most is listening. Quoting Lao Tsu, “when I stop speaking, I start learning”, Mike espouses trying to speak only a third of the time. Stoicism claims the proportions of the body giving us the formula for life and the fact that we have two ears and one mouth means we should be doing more listening than speaking. Listening is critical to collaboration, partnerships and understanding colleagues. It’s the best way to run a team in a way that supports them. And it can unlock the insights needed for you to decide whether to stick something out or walk away. Podcasting enables Mike to practise his listening every week and he always aims for about 33 per cent speaking and 67 per cent listening.   

There’s no one-size-fits all strategy for individual or organisational impact journeys. Ultimately, life can be viewed as one big experiment, and along the way leaders and change makers need to make calls about when pushing through the challenges is needed, and when to recognise that a certain direction isn’t the right one. Quitting is not a dirty word and the art of doing this at the right time is a strategic skill worth mastering.