One of my favorite memories of Bruce Lee is that his movies embodied the man who never quit. Driven by unwavering resolve, fierce cultural pride, and a philosophy of adapting to any obstacle, Bruce Lee was the quintessential fight-to-the-finish martial arts role model.
In The Way of the Dragon, Bruce Lee fought through endless waves of thugs and hired guns. Despite overwhelming odds against him, he kept pressing forward. He was there to protect a Chinese restaurant from an international crime syndicate. As the threats against Bruce Lee escalated, so did his response.
Bruce was willing to double down.
Escalation also plays an integral role in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, as Bilbo and Samwise make their way toward Mordor to forever destroy the Ring of Power. At every turn, these two Hobbits are accosted, as Soron and his minions seek to regain the One Ring, and with that, control over all of Middle-Earth.
We see this same bravado modeled in John McClane, the character immortalized by Bruce Willis, in the Die Hard franchise series. Despite overwhelming odds and a continual escalation of violence, Bruce’s character kept pushing forward, outsmarting a group of heavily armed terrorists in the process. With a “Yippee-ki-yay,” John McClane was relentless in his pursuit to save the people he loved and protect the innocent.
John McClane was willing to double down. So were Bilbo and Samwise.
This theme continues in the movie trilogy, The Equalizer, where we see Denzel Washington also immortalize the archetype of the man who stubbornly refuses to die in his quest to protect the innocent. As Robert McCall, a former government operative, Washington’s character completely refuses to back down once he sets out to protect the innocent or punish the corrupt. His classic, “for you…I’m going to make an exception,” embodies his willingness to escalate the violence and take the fight to the enemy.
And who could forget the likes of Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible movie series or Keanu Reeves as John Wick. Ethan Hunt never backs down from a mission. John Wick pushes through entire armies of assassins through sheer grit and determination. In these characters, we see two more examples of the archetype of the stubborn, relentless, overcome-the-odds, fight-to-the-finish, refuse-to-quit warrior.
Robert McCall, Ethan Hunt, and John Wick were all willing to double down.
We all love stories about people who refused to quit. People like Leonidas of Sparta, who led the 300 Spartans who withstood the onslaught of a massive Persian Army. What about George Washington, who led a ragtag army facing starvation and rampant disease, ultimately defeating the British forces and securing independence for the 13 original colonies? Or Harriet Tubman, who, after escaping slavery, repeatedly returned to the American South to rescue other slaves via the Underground Railroad?
What about the entrepreneur who heard “NO” a hundred times? The athlete who was told he wasn’t good enough, but kept training anyway? Inventors, like Thomas Edison, who endured failure after failure but kept trying just one more time? Men like Sam Walton, who stayed the course even when everyone else lost faith?
We love to celebrate the people who persist until they succeed. It’s part of the human experience, celebrating those who overcame overwhelming odds to come out victorious on the other side of the conflict. Author Og Mandino immortalized this concept of resilience and escalation of effort in his iconic book, The Greatest Salesman in the World:
“I will persist until I succeed.”
The Hero’s story predates the classic tale of Odysseus. These stories have stood the test of time. But, how often do we pay attention to stories when the Hero doesn’t win?
I’m talking about the entrepreneur who exhausted his life’s savings trying to rescue a business the market had already rejected, the leader who destroyed a good team by refusing to abandon a bad strategy, or the Founder who kept pouring money into a failing project because canceling it would mean admitting the original premise was wrong. It’s like the guy at the blackjack table who continues to double down, even when the odds are stacked against him, hoping beyond hope that the cards will turn in his favor.
In life, there are times when quitting is a sign of weakness. However, there are other times when refusing to quit is a sign of stupidity. Knowing when to double down and when to fold and limit your losses is invaluable.
Don’t believe me? Ask Fred Smith.
As a college student, Smith envisioned a system where packages would be delivered by plane to a central US-based hub, sorted, and flown all over the country in the middle of the night, so these packages could be delivered by 10:30 AM each day. He received a “C” on that paper from his college professor, who told him the idea would never work.
That idea was Federal Express.
After FedEx became successful, Smith then came up with another “brilliant” idea. In a world of fax machines, what if you could walk into a FedEx office, present a document, have it beamed by satellite to any other FedEx location, and that document could be delivered the same day? Smith rented a satellite, made the investment in FedEx locations all over the country, and started advertising ZapMail.
When the idea didn’t initially catch on with the public, Smith doubled down. He kept pouring millions of dollars into his belief in this concept, only to learn there was no demand for this service. A fax machine could do the same thing, only a lot cheaper.
The end result? A multi-million dollar disaster. Smith chose to escalate at a time when evaluation and exit were a better option. It’s SO easy to become attached to an unfeasible idea that WE believe is possible, we ignore the reality of the moment and double down when it might be better to fold the hand, take our losses, and move on.
The question isn’t one of grit and perseverance, but rather one of awareness. It’s not a question of whether or not you have the courage to keep going. Sometimes, the more important question is whether you have enough courage to stop, think, re-evaluate, and either change direction, or you fold and limit your losses.
You have an idea, and you commit to a plan. Things don’t go as planned. Now you’re faced with two choices. You can escalate, or you can evaluate. You can double down or go all-in, or you can take an intentional pause to honestly weigh your options and alternatives.
Black Belt Leaders know when to persist, when to pivot, and when to walk away.
You have an idea, and you commit to a plan. You launched a product, introduced a service, opened a location, invested in a technology, entered into a partnership, or you agreed to a strategy. Now life refuses to cooperate, and things don’t go as planned. Sales are lagging, customers aren’t responding, and cash flow starts to bleed.
Are you an Escalator or an Evaluator?
The Escalator says to give it more time, spend more money, push the team harder, increase the advertising, hire another salesperson, work longer hours, push, push, push.
The Evaluator asks questions to uncover what’s not working and why. They challenge assumptions, revisit the original premise to see what may have been overlooked or ignored, looking at ALL the available options to prudently determine the best “next step.”
Kenny Rogers said it well, “You’ve got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them. Know when to walk away, and know when to run…”
Sadly, most of us escalate when we should evaluate.
In 1976, Barry Staw published a seminal paper, “Knee-Deep in the Big Muddy: A Study of Escalating Commitment to a Chosen Course of Action.” What the research found was that after investing time, money, effort, reputation, or identity in a decision, people tend to become MORE committed to the outcome, even when the evidence turns negative.
People tend to escalate rather than evaluate.
Staw’s original work was based on a simulation using 240 business students. Decades of subsequent research have validated Staw’s findings. In fact, some of the current research showed that even the smartest people can make foolish decisions.
Why?
The more you invest in a decision, the harder it can become to evaluate that decision objectively.
The research validates what Staw referred to as cognitive closure. There is an overwhelming desire in most people to grasp the first available solution, as it alleviates the discomfort of not knowing what to do. Once that decision is made, the brain “freezes” on it, actively blocking out new data, criticisms, or warning signs that the choice made may be incorrect.
Cognitive closure removes the fear of ambiguity, not knowing what to do, even if it is replaced by a choice that leads to a bad outcome.
This creates the Escalation Paradox.
The commitment that helped you begin may eventually prevent you from stopping. The belief that helped you persevere may eventually prevent you from seeing. The confidence that helped you lead may eventually prevent you from listening.
Sometimes, it’s pride. Changing direction can feel like a public defeat. At other times, it’s ego, because we don’t want to be seen as incompetent. Sometimes, it shows up as arrogance, when we think more highly of ourselves than we should.
We can also escalate because the pain of change, having to start over, feels heavier than continuing on a course we know that leads to failure. Ignorance also comes into play here, as sometimes we simply don’t know what we don’t know. Besides, the status quo is familiar. It is comfortable. It feels safer than venturing into the unknown.
Plus, we have already spent time and money to get to this point, so we allow our past investment to control our future decisions. This is known as sunk cost thinking. Cognitive closure can also take the form of confirmation bias, where we only see what supports our decision, and we explain away anything that challenges it.
Perhaps the biggest factor in the Escalation Paradox is the fact that our identity can get wrapped up in that decision. It’s no longer “My business.” It now becomes, “This is who I am.” When we become one with our business decisions, changing the business feels like we are changing ourselves.
Sometimes, the greatest threat to clear thinking is not a lack of intelligence. It is nothing more than emotional attachment disguised as conviction.
“Never quit” sounds courageous, but if you take it literally, it is often terrible advice. Yes, there are some things you should quit, like a destructive habit, a bad business strategy, a failing product, a toxic partnership, an outdated assumption, an unprofitable offering, or an ego-driven projection.
The problem? We often confuse quitting a method with quitting the mission.
What’s the distinction? Persistence says, “I will find a way.” Stubbornness says, “I will keep doing it my way.” One moves you forward. The other holds you back. Persistence stays committed to the goal. Stubbornness stays committed to the method.
Black Belt Leaders commit to the mission, but they question the method.
So, how do you know when persistence has become stubbornness? You keep repeating the same strategy with greater intensity. You interpret disagreement as disloyalty. You stop asking for advice. You only consult with people who agree with you. You blame customers for not understanding. You blame employees for not executing.
You blame the economy. You blame competitors. You keep moving the deadline for success. Your primary justification is how much you have already invested. You believe you can’t afford to quit, when in reality, you’re only refusing to think.
Entrepreneurs, in particular, struggle with this. Entrepreneurship requires belief. It demands you act without certainty, endure rejection, tolerate ambiguity, and persist when others doubt you or question your sanity.
But every Yin has a Yang, and every strength has a shadow. Belief can become blindness. Confidence can become arrogance. Persistence can become stubbornness. Vision can become delusion, and commitment can become captivity.
The same qualities that can help you succeed can also lead you to failure.
Remember, the Escalator says to give it more time, spend more money, push the team harder, increase the advertising, hire another salesperson, and work longer hours. You keep pushing, expending even more time, energy, and money, and your project still underperforms. At this juncture, are you still making good decisions, or are you more focused on proving your initial decision was correct?
Don’t miss this. Preventable failure rarely arrives as one enormous mistake. It often arrives as a series of increasingly expensive decisions made to defend the original mistake.
Maybe it’s time to hit the Pause Button.
Before you add more time, money, effort, energy, people, pressure, or resources to a project or venture that isn’t working, maybe it’s time to escape escalation and embrace evaluation. Let me share ten important questions you can use to help you walk through an evaluation exercise to gain a new and fresh perspective:
1. What exactly is not working?
2. Why is it not working?
3. Which original assumptions have proven false or incorrect?
4. What facts or evidence am I ignoring or overlooking?
5. What information would change my mind?
6. What am I emotionally attached to?
7. What do outsiders see that I do not?
8. What am I afraid to admit?
9. If I were starting today, knowing what I know now, would I still choose this path?
10. Am I protecting the mission, or simply defending my ego?
Here’s a Black Belt Secret of Success: Don’t escalate what you haven’t evaluated.
When I was competing in the SWAT Tournament Circuit, I always showed up with a plan. But, as Mike Tyson aptly noted, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Some of my opponents had great speed or movement and could evade my attack. There were times when my favorite techniques were ineffective. At other times, their height or reach gave them a tactical advantage I had to overcome. And sometimes, my timing was a bit off.
To win the competition, what did I have to do? Change my angle of attack. Change my speed and timing. Adjust my rhythm. Adapt my technique to the opportunities presented to me. I could either double down, escalate, and keep doing more of what wasn’t working, or I had to evaluate my options and alter my approach.
Here’s what I learned from that experience. A Black Belt isn’t committed to a technique that isn’t working. A Black Belt is committed to the outcome.
Sometimes, the correct response is escalation. When your assumptions remain sound, the market is responding, the strategy is working, and the potential upside justifies the future cost, double down.
When negative evidence is persistent, assumptions have failed, costs are growing faster than progress, timelines keep getting missed, and your best argument is, “We’ve come too far, and we can’t afford to quit…” it’s time to stop escalating and start evaluating.
For a Black Belt Leader, wisdom is knowing whether the moment requires greater commitment or better thinking.
We all admire perseverance and grit. We honor resilience. But “never quit” is not a leadership philosophy. It’s a slogan. Black Belt Leaders think. They evaluate. They question and consider. They listen and adapt…and when necessary, they walk away.
Sometimes, you may need to escalate, working harder, staying longer, investing more, and doubling down. But there are times when doing so only makes things worse. The answer isn’t always more effort. Often, the answer is more clarity. That comes when you evaluate.
Wisdom is knowing the difference between the two.
So, before you spend more money, invest more time, apply more pressure, demand more sacrifice, or stubbornly insist on staying the course, ask yourself this question:
Am I demonstrating persistence, or defending a mistake?
