Knowing When to Stop: A Lesson in Commercial Decision Making

Sometimes the biggest roadblocks in business aren’t technical challenges or lack of ideas - they’re the decisions we make after the data is already clear.In this solo episode of Busting Roadblocks, Janet Charteris shares a story from early in her career working in product innovation for a multinational cooperative.After developing a premium smoothie product that performed well in testing, Janet reached stage three of a four-stage development process and made a difficult recommendation: cancel the launch. The market had become too competitive and the numbers showed the product wouldn’t be profitable.Despite the analysis, the business decided to launch anyway.Six months later the product was pulled from shelves after losing money.This episode explores the real roadblock behind situations like this - organisational momentum, internal commitments, and the challenge of stopping something that already feels “too far along.”Janet reflects on why strong processes alone aren’t enough, and why good leadership requires the discipline to act on the information those processes reveal.If you’ve ever watched a project move forward even when the warning signs were clear, this episode will resonate.