𝗧𝗵𝗲 $𝟮 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗼 𝗢𝗻𝗲’𝘀 𝗔𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴

I watched a team pour another $500,000 into a project everyone privately admitted wasn’t working anymore.

The original vision made perfect sense six months earlier. But the market had shifted, and an AI solution now existed that could do 70% of what they were building at a fraction of the cost.

Yet they pressed forward, determined to “finish what they started.”

Sound familiar?

The sunk cost fallacy might be the most expensive thinking error in business today. We continue investing in projects not because they still make sense, but because we’ve already invested so much.

→ Your brain is wired to avoid loss, even when cutting losses is the smartest move

→ In rapidly evolving tech environments, yesterday’s brilliant solution can become tomorrow’s expensive distraction

→ The executives who thrive aren’t the ones who never make mistakes they’re the ones who recognize when to pivot or pull the plug

I’ve guided countless leadership teams through the uncomfortable but necessary process of project reevaluation. The most successful organizations build regular checkpoints into every initiative with one simple question: “If we were starting today, would we still choose this approach?”