Speaking exclusively at Moneycontrol’s Global Wealth Summit, Pink explained why embracing regret can help investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs make better decisions and build resilience. “If regret were a stock, I would bet on it,” Pink said. “When invested in properly, its long-term returns are massive.” According to the author of the book, “The Power of Regret”, regret is not just an unpleasant emotion but a powerful learning tool.
Much like a well-balanced investment portfolio, Pink noted that our emotional lives require both positive and negative experiences. “Would anyone in this audience want to eliminate fear entirely? No, because fear helps you get out of a burning building. Similarly, regret exists to help us make better decisions in the future,” he said. Instead of avoiding regret, investors should analyse it the way they evaluate their market strategies—learning from past mistakes and applying those insights to future opportunities.
Through his research involving 26,000 people across 134 countries, Pink identified a common regret among business leaders worldwide: not being bold enough. “Many entrepreneurs regret not taking a chance when they had the opportunity,” he said. While some regret taking risks and failing, the overwhelming majority—by a ratio of 50 to 1—regret not acting at all.
This insight is particularly relevant to Indian investors and business leaders navigating volatile markets. Instead of lamenting missed opportunities—whether it was failing to invest in Nvidia or selling ITC stock too early—Pink advised evaluating decision-making processes rather than fixating on outcomes. “The goal should be to make smart decisions over a broad portfolio and a long period of time,” he said.
Pink’s research also revealed another striking trend: business leaders regret moral missteps more than financial losses. “Over time, people regret not acting morally. The lesson here? Be bold and be good,” he emphasised.
While financial losses can be recovered, ethical compromises tend to linger. Pink urged business leaders to use regret as a guide, ensuring that their actions align with long-term values rather than short-term incentives.
Below is the edited transcript of the interview.
Q: Your book on regret has different meanings for everyone. Here, every leader, investor, and entrepreneur in this audience has faced regret. Some may be thinking, “Oh, I didn’t bet on Nvidia,” or, “I sold my ITC stock too early,” or, “I didn’t cash in on that Bitcoin rally.” How do these wealth creators of India avoid seeing regret as a failure? What I’m really asking, in their language, is this: If regret were a stock, why would you bet on it?
Pink: If regret were a stock, I would bet on it because, when invested in properly, its long-term returns are massive. And this is a great way to look at it. Let’s stick with your metaphor for a moment. Regret is the feeling we have when we look back and wish we had done something differently. It’s a painful emotion, and we often think we should avoid it at all costs. When we feel regret, we might want to ignore it, assuming it’s best not to dwell on it. But that’s not quite right.
We should think of regret as an emotion that is functional, adaptive, and purposeful. Consider all our emotions as a portfolio. In a well-balanced emotional portfolio, we want more positive emotions than negative ones—just like in investing, where we seek more equity than debt for long-term growth. However, just as you wouldn’t want a portfolio consisting only of equities, you wouldn’t want to have only positive emotions. You need some negative emotions because they serve a function. Would anyone in this audience want to eliminate fear entirely? No, because fear is necessary to get out of a burning building. Grief reminds us why we love. Similarly, regret—the most prominent negative emotion—exists because it helps us make better decisions in the future.
Q: Interesting. But financial loss is more than just regret, right? It’s a direct, immediate hit to the pocket. Unlike an emotional regret—such as not speaking to a friend or calling one’s father often enough—financial regrets aren’t like an egg you can unscramble. With the markets being so volatile in India right now, what’s your advice for coping with financial regret?
Pink: I think, as healthy human beings—whether as investors, parents, or professionals—we need to regret the right things. Many times, we regret the outcome instead of evaluating the decision itself. Let’s take an example. If I want to go for a run and it starts raining, I can’t regret that—it’s simply disappointment because I had no control over it. Regret applies only to things we have control over.
In investing, the market is inherently volatile. The belief that we can control the outcome of all our investments is a fool’s game. The goal should be to make smart decisions over a broad portfolio and a long period of time. If you regret every single outcome, you’ll end up making worse decisions. Instead, focus on evaluating your decision-making process rather than fixating on outcomes. If you didn’t invest in Nvidia and had a solid reason for it, interrogate that decision. Was it truly a mistake? Or was it just randomness? Because, as every investor knows, randomness plays a significant role in the stock market—hence the importance of diversification.
Q: In your book, you’ve surveyed people and found patterns in regret. Have you noticed any regional differences in how business leaders and investors experience regret? Say, Silicon Valley versus India?
Pink: I collected regrets from over 26,000 people in 134 countries, with surveys available in multiple languages. To my surprise, there were very few regional differences. Business leaders across the world share similar regrets. Their biggest regret? Not being bold enough.
Many entrepreneurs regret not taking a chance when they had the opportunity. While some who acted boldly and failed do experience regret, the overwhelming majority—probably 50 to 1—regret not acting at all. Another significant regret among business leaders is moral regret: being at a career crossroads and choosing the easier, less ethical path instead of the right one. Over time, people regret not acting morally. The lesson here? Be bold and be good.
Q: In markets, a similar emotion to regret is FOMO—the fear of missing out. Isn’t FOMO just real-time regret? How can decision-makers avoid being paralysed by what could have been and focus on what can be?
Pink: The key is to use regret as data. Ignoring it is a bad idea. Dwelling on it endlessly is also a bad idea. Instead, analyse it: What is this regret telling me? If I regret not investing in Nvidia, I should ask, “What did I miss?” Maybe I overlooked the potential of artificial intelligence and the companies enabling it. That’s valuable data. But the lesson shouldn’t be “Go chase the next AI stock.” Instead, the lesson is “Pay more attention to macroeconomic trends.” What are today’s large-scale trends? For example, how will aging populations in the US, Western Europe, and Japan impact industries? Understanding those secular trends is how you turn regret into a strategic advantage.
Q: You’ve studied regret in different aspects of life—business, love, and personal decisions. What do people regret more: doing something or not doing something?
Pink: This is an easy question to answer. Around the world, people regret inaction far more than action. And it’s not even close. In my research, the only major demographic difference was age. Young people in their 20s had roughly equal regrets of action and inaction. By their 30s, inaction regrets outweighed action regrets. By their 40s, 50s, and 60s, the ratio was 3 or 4 to 1—people overwhelmingly regretted what they didn’t do.
Q: It’s interesting that you bring in age, but I often think that regret is something that creeps in only later in life because, early on, you’re too curious and restless to try things. That zeal eventually fades away. Is that true?
Pink: Well, yes and no. First of all, older people do have regrets, but a lot of their regrets involve actions they took—things they did. However, many of those actually fade away over time. People make peace with their past actions; they put them into context. What sticks with people over time are the things they didn’t do.
If, for example, I hurt someone and regret it, I can make amends. I can go back and try to fix it. But with an inaction regret, I can’t do anything about it. I think the big reason younger people might have fewer regrets is simply that their past is shorter. Regret is about looking back, and when you’re 20, your past is relatively short. When you’re my age, your past is much longer.
Q: We have a lot of entrepreneurs in our audience today listening to you. This session has been a bit of a departure from our usual conversations about wealth creation. If you were to give advice to first-generation entrepreneurs and wealth creators, how would you tell them to harness regret? Because what your book suggests goes against what many leaders and aspirational figures say. They often claim, “I have no regrets.” Warren Buffett, for instance, says he has no regrets. But you say the opposite—you say to own it.
Pink: I do. And what I’m saying is that anybody who claims they have no regrets is not telling the truth. What we know from 60 years of research is that the only people who don’t have regrets are five-year-olds—because their brains haven’t developed the capacity for counterfactual thinking—people with certain neurodegenerative diseases, and sociopaths. Everyone else experiences regret. It’s one of the most common emotions in the world. The key is what you do with it.
For the investors and entrepreneurs in your audience, the key is to use regret as data. Ask yourself: What is this regret telling me? When you feel that emotion, it’s a signal. What is the signal? It could be telling you to be bolder in the future. It could be telling you to build stronger connections with others. It could be telling you to act more ethically.
One thing we see worldwide is that people tend to have similar regrets. And these regrets reveal core life lessons. When people tell you what they regret most, they’re really telling you what they value most. People regret not doing the work. They regret not acting boldly. They regret not making the right moral choices. And they regret not maintaining close relationships with people they care about.
That gives us a clue: Do the work. Take the shot. Do the right thing. And when in doubt, reach out to others.
Q: It sounds so simple when you say it, but it’s so difficult to implement.
Pink: That’s because the goal isn’t perfection—the goal is progress. The aim is to be a little better today than you were yesterday. I believe the talented people in this room can absolutely achieve that.
For leaders, it’s also important to talk about their regrets. Tell your team: “Here’s something I regret. Here’s what I learned from it. Here’s what I’m going to do differently.”
Q: A key takeaway from what you’ve just said is that more people regret not doing something rather than doing something. They regret not being bold enough. They regret moral missteps more than anything else. That’s very interesting. But, the challenge with regret is knowing where to draw the line. Once you go down the path of analysing what went wrong, it’s hard to surface again. That’s why people shut it down. So, where does one draw the line?
Pink: First of all, when dealing with regret, treat yourself with kindness rather than contempt. Often, when we make mistakes, the way we talk to ourselves is brutal and cruel. But research shows that self-criticism isn’t effective. It might feel like you’re holding yourself accountable, but it doesn’t improve performance. Instead, you should treat yourself with kindness.
There’s also a strong case for talking or writing about your regrets. The most important thing is to view regret as a signal. It’s a market signal, and you need to listen to it. Ask yourself: What lesson is this teaching me? What should I do next?
Research shows that people who process regret constructively become better negotiators and problem solvers. They’re also less prone to cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias and the escalation of commitment to a failing course of action—both of which often plague investors.
The key is not to dwell in regret but to use it strategically. Think of it like managing a portfolio: you wouldn’t load up on debt if you want long-term growth, but a little debt can be functional. Similarly, regret—when used correctly—helps you grow. When we treat this painful emotion as a source of information, we become better at our jobs and our lives.
Q: But if I were to use another financial analogy, would you say that regret is like compound interest—painful early but valuable in the long run?
Pink: That’s not a bad way to look at it. Some of the hardest regrets are the ones that compound. For example, individuals who say, “I spent too much and saved too little, and now I don’t have enough money”—that’s the result of compounding.
Regrets of inaction, in particular, tend to compound over time. That’s why people in their 60s and 70s have more inaction regrets than action regrets. The things they didn’t do—the chances they didn’t take, the moments when they failed to speak up—stick with them. Those regrets, in a sense, accumulate interest over time.
Q: What has been your biggest regret—apart from, of course, not being here in person?
Pink: My biggest regret is a regret of kindness. Earlier in my life, I wasn’t as kind as I could have been to other people. I wasn’t a bully, but there were many situations where I saw others being mistreated or left out. I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t do anything. That really bothers me.
Now, I have three choices: I could beat myself up and call myself a terrible person—that’s a bad idea. I could dismiss it and say, “It’s in the past, it doesn’t matter”—also a bad idea. Or, I could recognise that if something from 30 or 40 years ago still bothers me, it’s telling me something. It tells me that I value kindness, and that in the future, I should act with more compassion. If someone is being left out, I have an obligation to bring them in.