The Go-Around Principle and Why The Best Leaders Know When To Start Again
Updated: Oct 5
Ana Postigo is an airline pilot, former CRM instructor, writer, and speaker working at the intersection of Human Factors, neuroscience, and human performance. Drawing on extensive experience in airline operations, she explores how cognition, behaviour, and the systems around us shape decision-making, performance, and safety in complex environments.
In aviation, abandoning an approach is not failure. It is one of the most important decisions a pilot can make. The best leaders understand exactly why. To passengers, it feels unsettling. To an inexperienced observer, it may appear that something has gone wrong. In reality, the go-around is often evidence that something has gone very right.
In aviation, a go-around occurs when a pilot decides not to continue with a landing, applying power, climbing away from the runway and preparing for another approach. It is one of the clearest demonstrations of professional judgement in aviation. A willingness to abandon what is no longer working, reassess the situation and create the conditions for a better outcome.
What makes this decision so fascinating is that the greatest obstacle is rarely technical. It is psychological. That challenge extends far beyond the cockpit.
Why intelligent people continue long after the evidence has changed
Most leaders have experienced a version of the same dilemma. A strategy that is no longer producing the expected results. A decision that once appeared sound but is increasingly difficult to justify. A project consuming time and resources despite growing evidence that the original assumptions no longer hold.
Yet instead of changing direction, many organisations continue. Not because they are unaware of the warning signs. But because human beings are naturally inclined to remain committed to a course of action once they have invested significant effort, reputation, or resources into it.
The more we invest, the harder it becomes to walk away. At some point, the decision is no longer driven by objective analysis. It becomes shaped by the desire to justify previous choices, protect identity, and avoid the discomfort of acknowledging that circumstances have changed. The approach that should have been abandoned quietly becomes the one nobody feels able to question.
What the brain does when we have invested too much to stop
Neuroscience helps explain why this happens with such consistency, even among highly experienced leaders. The brain constantly seeks consistency. It prefers certainty over ambiguity and familiarity over change. Once we commit to a decision, our brains begin constructing a narrative that supports that choice. We notice information that confirms we are on the right path. We discount information that challenges our assumptions. We become emotionally attached to the decision itself.
In many cases, the brain interprets changing direction not as adaptation, but as loss. This is why intelligent, experienced, and highly capable leaders sometimes remain committed to strategies long after the evidence suggests a different approach is required. The challenge is not a lack of intelligence. It is the way the brain naturally responds to uncertainty, and to the threat of having to admit that what was once a good decision has become a costly one.
"The problem is rarely a lack of intelligence. It is the brain's natural resistance to admitting that a good decision has become a bad one."
Why aviation treats the go around as a success
Aviation has long recognised this human tendency, and deliberately trained against it. Pilots are taught from the earliest stages of their training that a go around is not a failure to land. It is a normal, professional operational decision. One that reflects situational awareness, discipline, and the ability to distinguish between two goals that can appear similar but are fundamentally different.
The objective is not to complete the approach. The objective is to achieve a safe landing. A pilot who becomes attached to completing the approach may continue despite deteriorating conditions. A pilot who remains committed to the outcome will recognise when the wisest decision is to start again. That distinction, between commitment to a path and commitment to a result, lies at the heart of effective decision making, on the flight deck and off it.
The difference between persistence and attachment
Leadership has always celebrated persistence. We admire determination, resilience, and the refusal to be deflected from a goal. These qualities matter. But there is a point at which persistence can quietly become something else.
Persistence is commitment to a goal. Attachment is commitment to a particular path. The distinction is subtle. But it can determine whether a leader remains genuinely adaptable or becomes gradually trapped by previous decisions.
Markets evolve. Teams change. New information emerges. Competitive landscapes shift. The leaders who succeed over the long term are rarely those who cling most tightly to their original plans. They are the ones who remain committed to the destination while staying flexible about the route.
"Persistence is commitment to a goal. Attachment is commitment to a particular path. The distinction can define a leadership career."
Why great leaders know when to start again
One of the most valuable lessons aviation offers to leadership is that changing course should not automatically be interpreted as failure. Sometimes it is the most intelligent and courageous decision available.
The strongest leaders are not those who persist regardless of circumstances. They are those who possess the self awareness to recognise when conditions have changed, the humility to reassess their assumptions, and the courage to act before an unstable situation becomes a genuine crisis.
A go around does not mean the destination has changed. It simply acknowledges that the current approach is no longer the best way to get there.
"Careers, organisations, and strategies are rarely defined by the approaches we abandon. They are defined by the outcomes we ultimately achieve."
Sometimes the wisest decision a leader can make is to stop trying to save the approach, and start preparing for a better landing. The runway will still be there.
Read more from Ana Postigo
Ana Postigo, Airline Pilot, Human Factors Writer & Speaker
Ana Postigo is an airline pilot, former CRM instructor, writer, and speaker working at the intersection of Human Factors, neuroscience, and human performance. Drawing on extensive experience in airline operations, she explores the factors that shape how people think, decide, communicate, and perform in complex and high-pressure environments. Her work brings together operational experience with research from neuroscience, psychology, and Human Factors to explore decision-making, cognitive performance, resilience, error, and safety. As a speaker, she has contributed to events and conversations with organisations including BAC and Instituto Cervantes, translating complex ideas about human performance into accessible and practical discussions. Alongside her aviation and Human Factors work, Ana is also a children’s author, encouraging young readers to remain curious, pursue their ambitions, and believe in what they can become.
