Burning the Ships: Bold Commitment or Reckless Gamble?

Playing with Fire, Part 2A

In Part 1, we looked at the “burning platform” metaphor and how false urgency backfires. Now, we flip the lens. Instead of alarms and deadlines, what happens when a leader eliminates the escape route and declares: We’re burning the ships? (Next in series, The Decision Playbook for burning the ships)

When Hernán Cortés landed in the New World in 1519, legend says he ordered his men to destroy their ships. No retreat. No turning back. Forward was the only option.

That story has echoed through centuries as a symbol of bold commitment. Leaders quote it to inspire focus. Consultants use it to urge decisive strategy. Entrepreneurs post it on LinkedIn to celebrate going “all in.”

But here’s the real question: Is burning your ships wise—or reckless?

The Allure of No Turning Back

There’s something thrilling about the idea. When you remove the escape hatch, you get total commitment:

• Businesses innovate faster when the old model is off the table.

• Teams adapt quickly when there’s no fallback plan.

• Psychologists note that eliminating alternatives sharpens focus. Instead of hedging between Plan A and Plan B, all energy pours into Plan A.

Psychologists call these commitment devices—the forcing mechanisms we use to lock ourselves in, like gym deposits, savings contracts, or public announcements. Once you’ve said it out loud, you’re more likely to follow through.

Focus—or Blinders?

One real upside of “burning the ships” is clarity. Psychologists call it goal shielding—your brain’s way of locking onto one priority and pushing distractions aside.

In business, that’s why a transition can feel powerful. IT folks call it a cutover: when a company switches everyone to a new system and shuts off the old one. Usage often jumps—an adoption spike—because there’s no fallback option.

But focus can also become a pair of blinders. When leaders insist, “There is no Plan B,” teams may ignore early warning signs. They dismiss customer complaints, skip over quality issues, or downplay market shifts. The same narrowing that drives execution can also block adaptation.

Urgency on the Curve

Pressure motivates—but only up to a point. Research shows a curve: too little stress and energy lags; too much and performance craters.

Burning the ships often pushes urgency into overdrive. For some, that inspires courage. For others, it triggers anxiety, mistakes, and burnout. And people carry different capacities for risk—what energizes one may exhaust another.

The Sunk-Cost Trap

Another danger is sunk cost. Once people have invested time, money, or reputation, it becomes harder to turn back—even if the evidence says they should.

This is the sunk-cost trap—the danger of throwing good money after bad simply because you’ve already invested so much. You’ve seen projects limp along long after the business case collapsed. Leaders hesitate to cancel because “we’ve already put so much into it.” Teams push forward because admitting failure feels worse than continuing the pain.

That’s why leaders must set kill criteria—clear exit rules that define when to pull the plug. Ask:

• What signs will tell us this isn’t working?

• What thresholds force a pivot?

Without those markers, bold commitment can slide into stubborn persistence.

The Bottom Line for Leaders

Burning the ships is not just a strategic call—it’s a leadership choice that shapes how people experience change:

• Will they feel clarity and courage?

• Or fear, rigidity, and exhaustion?

Commitment and urgency help only if they’re paired with support, safety, and realistic paths forward. Otherwise, the flames you light today may burn through the very resilience you’ll need tomorrow.

The Hidden Fragility

The same move that creates focus can also create fragility:

• What if the chosen path is wrong?

• What if conditions change?

• What if innovation requires experiments and fallback options?

As author Scott H. Young warns: burning the ships assumes you control the outcome. And in complex, unpredictable environments—that’s a dangerous assumption. History gives us plenty of examples of leaders who pressed forward recklessly, leaving no way to recover when things went badly.

Next Up in Part 2B

We’ll look at The Decision Playbook—a practical framework for knowing when burning the ships is bold leadership, and when it’s just reckless.

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