Arthur C. Brooks explains the Stockdale Paradox from Vietnam POWs: prisoners who survived accepted uncertainty about release, while those who set specific dates and missed them lost hope. The paradox applies to companies too. Infinite commitment without fixed deadlines builds resilience; finite targets that shift erode meaning.
The famous Stockdale Paradox, named for Admiral Stockdale in the Vietnam War. He was an incredible Vietnam War hero. And one of the things that he talked about was the prisoners of war who survived and those who didn't. Those who died, they said, yeah, stay happy because we're gonna get outta here by Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving would come and go and they wouldn't be done. He said, oh, don't worry, we're gonna be outta here by Easter. And Easter would come and go. And he said they died of a broken heart. But the ones who actually survived were the ones who said, we're gonna get out. I don't know when. That sounds like you. I think that's 100% true. It's also the difference between a finite and infinite mindset.
My friend Leopoldo López, he was a prisoner of Maduro's and kept in solitary confinement for 4 years and in prison for 7. He said the same thing, which is the problem is the goal, is the deadline. And when you have moving goalposts, it becomes demoralizing to the point of nothing is getting answered. So it's an infinite versus a finite mindset. I think the same is true when companies define their purpose based on a finite deadline or finite goal at the end of the year, and then they just keep moving the goal as their purpose. At some point, you will feel like this job is not worth it. which is kind of like a giving up without the existential component.
