We love the stories where persistence pays off. The underdog who grinds it out. The founder who never gives up. But what happens when that story doesn't match your reality? In the first full episode of Exit Interview, Kanya Balakrishna shares the moment persistence stopped working for her—and introduces the concept of "the work twisties," those moments when leaders lose their footing and can't see the path forward.

Pick up any business publication and you'll hear the same stories: overnight successes, triumphant exits, founders who made every sacrifice worth it. Those stories aren't wrong. They're just incomplete. For every headline-making exit, there are hundreds of stories that don't get told—and they're often more instructive.