The average lifespan of a company listed on the S&P 500 has plummeted from 32 years in 1965 to just over 21 years today. Most entrepreneurs I have interviewed over the last four decades view their business as a legacy, an extension of their own identity, or even a family member. This emotional attachment creates a cognitive blind spot that costs the global economy billions in misallocated capital every year. It is a quiet, expensive tragedy.

In 2012, I sat down with a founder in Manchester who had spent £400,000 of his personal savings trying to keep a high-end print magazine afloat. He spoke about the "soul" of the publication and the "duty" he felt toward his three remaining employees. He was bankrupt six months later, leaving those same employees without severance and his family without a home. He wasn't being brave; he was being stubborn.