Each quarter I post a review of a leadership/motivational book I recommend to colleagues and friends. Some may be old favorites, others are hot off the press. I am always open to suggestions for books to review. If you have a favorite you'd like to share with others, please contact me.

The Dip:
A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit
(And When to Stick)

By Seth Godin
(Review by Jerilyn Willin)

"You got to know when to hold ‘em…know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, know when to run…"

Are you having visions of Kenny Rogers? Yep, those lyrics are from "The Gambler" and the musical introduction I think best fits this quarter's book review on Seth Godin's The Dip.

While Kenny was singing about pushing away from the card table, Godin's short (80 pages) but intense book takes the reader on an exploration of when to quit a job, project, or relationship.

QUIT??? Weren't we always told, "don't be a quitter"? OR "only losers quit" or "you only fail if you quit"?  Godin begs to differ. There are times, he says, when quitting is the right thing to do.

Contrary to Vince Lombardi's "quitters never win and winners never quit", The Dip points out that winners quit all the time. They simply quit the right things. Those right things are things that will not move them toward being the best. Jack Welch is an example of this. When he took over GE he divested the company of all interests in which GE could not be the best, then he focused all resources and energies on the areas where they could. Does anyone consider Jack Welch "a quitter"? Nope.

The premise of Godin's book is that business, organizations, and society count on the fact that most people quit. He calls the mechanism that trips people up "the Dip".

For example: you decide to go to medical school. People who enter the medical profession are seen as smart, respectable and financially successful. This is what you want. This is what is possible if you can get through the Dip.

One of the first Dips is organic chemistry. A killer course, which must be conquered, or it's bye-bye med school dream. Are there "quits" to get through this? Yes. Partying, your part-time job, seeing your significant other as often as you would like. Another Dip is the grind of med school and internship: long hours of study and hands-on practice, pressure, and the weight of growing debt. More quits may have to happen to make it through. If you really want a medical practice you muscle your way through and the things you "quit" are the right things to achieve your dream. Others may "cut their losses" and settle on another career. The cost to be a doctor was just too high.

Godin cites seven reasons why people fail to "become their best".
They:

• Run out of time (and quit)
• Run out of money (and quit)
• Get scared (and quit)
• Decide they are not serious about the pursuit (and quit)
• Lose interest or settle for being mediocre
• Focus on short-term pain instead of long term benefits
• Pick the wrong thing, an area in which they don't have the talent

He maintains you can plan for the first six before you start. Why waste energy if you don't have the time, the will or the resources. In other words, don't start if you know you can't make it through the Dip. Focusing on the Dip means quitting all other paths that are not leading you through it. Take this to heart and you will be more discriminating in the journeys you start. If you can get through the Dip, extraordinary results can be achieved.

Of course there is an alternative to quitting. Getting stuck and being afraid to quit. Godin calls this the cul du sac (dead end). Unlike the Dip, the cul du sac is revealed in spending long hours at the office which bring the same type projects year after year, the cold calls that don't result in any sales, drowning in paperwork and bureaucracy. It's safe, it's known. You work and work but nothing much changes.

Cul du sacs can be deadly because putting time and energy into a cul du sac robs you of putting that time, energy and expertise elsewhere. There is an other side with the Dip. In a cul du sac we just keep going around. There is no other side! Knowing how to recognize the difference is critical.

The common (and wrong) choice is to give the Dip a shot and when it becomes too hard or painful quit and try something else (individuals and organizations are implicated here). Some businesses call this diversification. Don't be fooled.

The Dip is the secret to success (think "separating the wheat from the chaff"). Success is more likely when the Dip is eliminating less-focused competition. Getting through it and quitting the things that sap the time and energy you need to get through the Dip leads to success.

Godin offers some strategies for getting through:

• Focus on the long term benefits vs. the short-term pain. For example think of that pre-med student clawing her way through organic chemistry. The short term (the class) is painful. To get through, she keeps her eyes on the prize of adding MD after her name.
• Keep score of the short-term obstacles you have overcome. Few marathon runners quit in Mile 25. They've invested too much and the finish is in sight.
• Employ a new strategy. Is promotion is out of reach at your current organization? Quit and go elsewhere. The new employer will not see the "brand new" PhD who started with the company 18 years ago, but will see the PhD with 18 years experience who's a good fit for the higher-level position.

In eighty pages, the Dip is not an easy book to read. It can be harsh at time, labeling those who are not "the best in the world" as mediocre/average/settling. I admit to going a little twitchy with some of his postulations. I've switched horses in a variety of streams, so to speak, What if I had stayed where I was? Were my quitting choices the "right" ones? Quitting to narrow your focus calls for prioritizing, which leads to evaluating not only your work, but also your life choices and relationships.

Sorry Seth...sometimes the other side of the Dip isn't worth all the sacrifices. That may be a hidden value-added in this book; coming to one's own definition of "best in the world" and putting the brakes on chasing society's definition. That in itself is worth the read.

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