The Persistence Playbook
Keep going until you get lucky, then pivot to stay lucky
The Persistence Playbook distinguishes between dumb persistence (putting your head down and walking in the same direction regardless of results) and smart persistence (carrying on while constantly evolving, pivoting, and adapting). Squibb argues that persistence is the single quality that most separates winners from losers, but only when it is intelligent persistence aligned with purpose.
The framework has three modes: pure persistence (staying visible and relevant until opportunity arises), persistence through adversity (surviving crises that would cause most people to quit), and pivot to persist (reinventing your business model when the world changes around you). Each mode is illustrated through real examples from both Squibb's career and iconic companies.
Squibb's central insight is that luck is not random. You can hack luck by being persistent, because the longer you stay in the game and the more chances you give yourself, the more likely something will fall your way. Most people give up before they get lucky.
- If you are persistent, it allows you to get lucky, because persistence gives you more chances
- What we call luck is often just boring math: more visibility to more people equals more opportunities
- Persistence through adversity does not just help you survive; it makes you stronger for the next crisis
- Smart persistence means evolving and pivoting, not stubbornly repeating what has stopped working
- If you stop, someone dies: maintain the intensity of purpose that a dream demands
- Practice Pure PersistenceStay visible and relevant to the people who matter. When someone says no, do not give up; find different ways to stay in contact by adding value rather than repeating your pitch. Send useful articles, seasonal greetings, or insights about their business. The worst thing in business is being forgotten. Real closers stay in the game until the moment arrives when they can make the sale.Pro tipMediocre salespeople follow up a handful of times and give up. Real closers find ways to keep the conversation going through interactions that are not sales pitches, until the moment arrives naturally.WarningDo not confuse persistence with pestering. Add value with every interaction. Bombarding targets with unsolicited sales messages will damage the relationship.
- Persist Through AdversityWhen a crisis hits (and it will), resist the urge to tell yourself a comforting story about why failure was inevitable. Most times, there is another way if you push harder or look more closely. Use adversity as training: each crisis survived makes you stronger and more resilient for the next one. Embrace Jensen Huang's philosophy that character is formed through suffering, not through intelligence.Pro tipThat sick feeling in your stomach during a crisis is a reminder that you made it through before and will make it through again. Learn to treat adversity as a teacher, not a tormentor.WarningWhen things get hard, the single path splits into two: give up or go through hell to carry on. Most people choose the easier path and then blame bad luck for their failure.
- Pivot to PersistPersistence does not mean walking in the same direction regardless of results. Constantly adapt to a changing world. When your business model stops working, reinvent it. The world's most successful brands (Instagram, Netflix, Starbucks, YouTube) all pivoted dramatically from their original models. Ask yourself: is the warning sign a temporary setback or a signal that the entire approach needs to change?Pro tipBubble Wrap was invented as wallpaper, then tried as greenhouse insulation, before IBM started using it as packaging. Instagram started as a location check-in app called Burbn. Be willing to strip back to the feature that works and rebuild around it.WarningConvincing yourself that you will be fine if you carry on as you are is not persistence; it is stagnation. Saying 'that new technology sounds expensive' or 'those competitors will not last' is the complacency that fills business graveyards.
In his first month at Fluid, Squibb contacted fifty dream clients. Not one agreed to a meeting. He kept contacting them for nine years, adding value with each interaction rather than repeating sales pitches.
In 1996, Nvidia diverged from industry standards to create better graphics chips. The launch was a disaster. The company had only enough cash for one more month of payroll. Founder Jensen Huang estimated fifty-fifty odds on the next product working.
In 2003, the SARS pandemic shut down Hong Kong and destroyed Fluid's branding business overnight. Rather than folding, Squibb hired people laid off from other companies who had e-commerce expertise and built a new digital practice from scratch.
At Fluid, Squibb wrote a list of fifty dream clients in his first month. Not a single one agreed to a meeting. Rather than abandoning the list, he contacted them repeatedly over years, adding value with each interaction rather than making sales pitches. Within the first year, several became clients. After nine years, every single one of the fifty had worked with Fluid. This nine-year experiment in pure persistence became the foundation of his belief that staying in the game long enough is what creates luck.