Stop Saying “We Need to Execute Better"

Before we get into this, I want to speak directly to the founder or exec who’s listening right now.

I’ve sat across from leaders like you: good, strong, determined people, who are running great businesses. But something's off. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but it keeps surfacing…

In missed goals.

In quiet frustration.

In team members not stepping up like they used to.

And you start to think, “We need to execute better” — and you’re tempted to say it out loud. But the next time you're there, I want you to pause for a second.

Because that statement? That’s not strategy. That’s not leadership. That’s not clarity.

It’s something you say when you can feel things slipping, but you’re not exactly sure where or why. And honestly? You say things like that because you don’t know what else to say.

Hi, I’m James and you’re listening to the Leadership in 5 podcast where leadership meets execution, one focused episode at a time.

Let me ask you something...

If someone on your team said, "We just need to do better," you’d want specifics, right?

You’d lean in with questions like:

What does better look like?

What are we missing right now?

What do you need from me?

But when you, as the founder, say “we need to execute better,” you’re doing the same thing, it's just at a much bigger scale.

Don't miss this: You’re giving voice to a problem without giving structure to a solution.

And here’s the reality: Execution doesn’t magically improve because people hear the word “execute” louder. It improves when expectations are clear, priorities are aligned, and systems are built to reinforce what matters.

Let me pull the curtain back a little further...

It’s usually not a people problem; it’s a pattern problem. And more often than not, the pattern is chaos. Not because you don’t care, but because you’ve been surviving off instinct and adrenaline and reaction.

And now? That system has hit its limit.

So when you say, “we need to execute better,” you might actually mean:

We don’t have role clarity.

We’ve skipped having progress meetings.

Our goals don’t connect to our strategy.

We haven’t addressed accountability with intention.

And that’s the difference between feeling frustration and being a leader.

Frustration shouts the problem. Leadership names the cause.. then builds the solution.

So what can you do instead?

First, stop thinking and saying “we need to execute better” like it’s a motivational chant.

Start doing the hard, necessary work of aligning:

Expectations

Priorities

and Systems

This is what I call Calibrated Execution, where execution is no longer reactive or emotional. It’s engineered. It’s intentional. It’s built.

Here's your reflection for today:

If you’ve caught yourself saying “we need to execute better” lately… what’s the real message beneath those words?

What’s unclear? What’s missing? What’s being tolerated that used to be non-negotiable?

Execution isn’t a pep talk. It’s a structure. It’s a system. And the sooner you build it, the less pressure you’ll carry alone.

That’s worth thinking about today.