They're already leaving. Not because of pay. Not because of culture. Not because a recruiter called. Because something was left unfinished.

A question dodged in the interview. A promise implied but never kept. Feedback that never came. A future that quietly disappeared. These are unfinished rooms-cognitive spaces created by incomplete interactions that the brain refuses to release. They accumulate. They compound. And by the time someone resigns, the decision is months old.

Unfinished Rooms reveals why traditional retention efforts fail and what actually determines whether someone stays: closure. Drawing on 14 years of recruiting, hundreds of placements, and the psychology of unresolved expectations, Richie Lampani delivers a framework for seeing exits before they happen-and preventing the ones that don't have to.

This book introduces the Five Rooms model-the sequence of psychological spaces that open from interview through exit-and provides operational tools for leaders, managers, and HR professionals to diagnose retention risk before it becomes resignation. Includes the Retention Autopsy Checklist, Stay Interview frameworks, and seven high-leverage interventions any manager can implement immediately.

If you've ever been blindsided by a resignation, this book will show you exactly where you lost them-and how to never miss the signs again.

Close the room. Or watch them leave.