The ROI of Engineering Motivation with Cassie Leonard

I’ve watched good engineers quietly check out. And I’ve seen leaders genuinely surprised when they leave.

This week’s conversation with Cassie Leonard gave me a framework I wish I’d had years ago. It’s called expectancy-value theory, and Cassie translates it into an ROI equation for career decisions:

Every engineer is already solving this daily. This just gives them different language for it.

The insight that stuck with me most wasn’t about the equation itself. It was about the denominator.

When Cassie was deciding whether to leave her Fortune 100 role, one conversation with a senior manager nearly zeroed out her cost-of-failure. They told her, “Go try it. If it doesn’t work, call me.”

That’s it! One sentence that changed everything. How many people stay stuck or leave quietly because no one thought to say something like that?

If you lead engineers, the one question Cassie recommends adding to your next 1-on-1:

“If you took this opportunity, what do you think you’d be giving up?”

Not what they’d gain, but what they’d lose. That’s where the real conversation can start.

🎧 Full episode on Quality during Design. https://deeneyenterprises.com/qdd/podcast/s3e19/