How Linda Babcock Protects Her Time (and How You Can Too)

If you’re an early-stage founder or ambitious wantrepreneur, the fastest way to accelerate your progress might be to say “no” more often and more strategically. That’s the central lesson from Carnegie Mellon economist Linda Babcock, co-author of The No Club, in a companion interview on Adam Grant’s podcast WorkLife. In this conversation, Babcock breaks down the invisible work that derails careers, the social pressures that make some people shoulder more of it, and the systems individuals and organizations can put in place so that essential—but non-promotable—tasks don’t swallow your calendar.

The Hidden Drain: “Non-Promotable” Tasks

Babcock studies the kind of work that keeps organizations humming but doesn’t move your career (or startup) forward: taking notes, organizing events, onboarding, “jumping on a quick call,” or being the reliable volunteer in every group. In one experiment she describes, participants could press a button that benefitted the whole group, but penalized the button-pusher. Across multiple rounds, women pressed the button 50% more than men, revealing a social expectation dynamic rather than a skill difference. That dynamic shows up in real workplaces and teams, too.

In time-tracking data from a consulting firm, Babcock found women spent ~200 more hours per year on non-promotable work than men in the same roles. That’s effectively one fewer month to advance the projects that actually get rewarded.

“Everyone is equally good at pressing the button. No one wants to. Women just end up doing it more often.” — Linda Babcock, on WorkLife

For founders, this translates into a painfully familiar pattern: you’re in meetings you don’t need, doing ops that could be delegated, or smoothing team friction while your core growth levers sit untouched.

Systems Beat Heroics: Fix the Work, Not Just the Worker

Babcock and Grant argue that the allocation of non-promotable work is a design problem. Instead of relying on volunteers (which selects for people-pleasers and penalizes them later), make the work visible and rotate it:

• Inventory the tasks that are essential but non-promotable (notes, scheduling, internal docs, culture events, onboarding).
• Assign an owner to allocate fairly—don’t crowdsource with “any volunteers?”
• Rotate or randomize who does what (think: “pull a name from a hat”), and time-box the responsibility.
• Make helping promotable: build recognition into performance reviews or peer bonus programs so the people who stabilize your team are credited for it.

For small startups, this can be as simple as a shared spreadsheet on “glue work,” rotated weekly; or a rule like “every engineer does one support rotation per quarter.” If you value it, measure it—and reward it.

The Personal Side: Say “No” Without Burning Bridges

Even with better systems, you’ll still face asks you can’t or shouldn’t accept. Babcock’s toolkit is tactical and humane:

1) Beat the Planning Fallacy

Multiply by four. If you think a request will take an hour, budget four. That alone will kill a surprising number of “sure, I can do it!” reflexes.

2) Use a Decision Buffer

Babcock’s rule: you can say “no” immediately, but if you might say yes, wait 24 hours to decide. (Grant extends this to 48 hours when he’s the one asking, so people feel less pressured.) If the answer would be no today, it’s probably no next month—future you won’t be magically free.

3) Price the Opportunity Cost

Adopt a subtraction policy: you can only add a new commitment if you remove something of equal or greater scope. If the new ask crowds out time with your kids, your health, or your core growth project—call it out explicitly.

4) Negotiate the Boundaries of Yes

If “no” is impossible, shrink the scope:

• “I can do this part and then hand it to X.”
• “Yes—if we drop Y from my plate.”
• “Yes—with staff support or a template to execute.”

5) Choose B+ on the Right Things

Some tasks don’t need an A+. If “perfect” costs 10 hours and “good” costs five, pick the five—especially for work that’s non-promotable.

6) Keep the Diva Glow, Give a No

Flattered to be asked? Enjoy the compliment—and refer someone who would genuinely benefit. This keeps relationships warm and grows others’ careers.

Script: “I’m honored you thought of me. I can’t take this on right now, but [Name] would be fantastic and excited to do it. Happy to introduce.”

“Pick Your Non-Promotable On Purpose”

Babcock doesn’t advocate total abstinence. Instead, pick the non-promotable tasks that are meaningful or uniquely suited to you (e.g., mentoring) and drop the rest. Say yes where you have edge; rotate where you don’t.

For the founder audience: this is your “zone of unique value” heuristic. If a task only needs “a body,” it probably doesn’t need you. If a task needs your judgment, relationships, or credibility, consider it—but time-box it and track it.

Culture Without People-Pleasing

Two organizational cultures tend to breed calendar chaos:

1. Politeness cultures where no one declines a meeting, so 28 people attend when 4 are needed.
2. Customer-is-always-right cultures where every client request becomes an internal fire drill.

Leaders can reset defaults:

• Meeting rules: max attendees, required agenda, decision owner, and “optional” as the default for most.
• Client rules: a short list of things you never promise (overnight turnaround, unlimited revisions, work outside scope without change order).
• Team norms: “everyone does one governance committee,” “five hours of mentoring per week,” etc.—and they’re recognized.

A 7-Day “No Club” Sprint for Founders

1. Audit your week: tag every task as promotable, in-between, or non-promotable.
2. Set personal policies: three things you never do; three you’ll consider with a 24–48h buffer.
3. Create a glue-work board: list recurring non-promotable tasks; rotate weekly.
4. Draft two refusal scripts: one warm referral; one boundary-of-yes.
5. Adopt the subtraction rule: “No adds without equal subtractions.”
6. Agree on B+ zones: tasks where “good enough” is the standard.
7. Reward the helpers: shout-outs, points, or peer notes that count in reviews.

Why This Matters Now

If you’re building from zero, your scarcest resource isn’t money—it’s focused founder time. The difference between momentum and stall-out is often whether you protect that time from well-intended, low-leverage obligations. Babcock’s research gives you permission—and a playbook—to design your calendar around the work that counts, while still keeping your team (and clients) cared for.

“If a task is so important that we ask people to do it, we should make helping promotable.” — Linda Babcock, on WorkLife

Make the invisible work visible. Then manage it like the critical system it is.