Try Harder Isn’t a Strategy
Leadership in 5 | Earned Authority
“Try harder” isn’t a strategy—it’s a stall tactic.
In today’s episode, James unpacks why effort alone isn’t enough to drive real execution. Leaders often default to emotional language when what’s actually needed is structural clarity. You’ll learn what to say — and what to ask — instead of repeating the motivational mantras that burn people out without moving the business forward.
In this episode:
- Why “try harder” feels right, but fails
- The hidden obstacles that get mislabeled as effort problems
- What high performers actually need from you as a leader
- A better question to ask when things stall
Ask yourself:
What’s preventing progress, and have I made it undeniably clear what matters most?
Transcript
Let me say something that might surprise you:
Trying harder isn’t a bad thing.
But it’s also not a strategy.
I’ve worked with a lot of founders and executive teams, and this phrase always shows up when pressure is high and clarity is low.
"We just need to buckle down."
"We’ve gotta try harder."
"Let’s push through."
And sure—that can rally the troops for a moment.
But it’s not a repeatable plan. It’s not a leadership move.
It’s a survival instinct.
Because when you zoom in, “try harder” is often a placeholder.
It fills the silence when no one knows what else to say.
It creates the illusion of momentum—when what you really have is drift.
I’ve been guilty of this too.
In my early days leading teams, when something didn’t go the way I wanted—
a project fell behind, a process wasn’t followed, a metric got missed—
I’d fall back on effort.
But I didn’t always know what that looked like.
I hadn’t built the system to make clarity stick.
I was relying on emotional intensity instead of operational intelligence.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
High performers don’t need to try harder.
They need to understand what’s preventing progress.
Because behind every “try harder” moment is usually a hidden obstacle:
– A lack of clear expectations
– A misaligned priority
– A missing feedback loop
– Or a decision that no one actually made
When you identify that, you stop recycling motivation—and start removing barriers.
That’s executional leadership.
So next time you hear yourself say,
“Let’s just try harder”…
pause and ask:
What’s getting in the way?
What’s still fuzzy, misaligned, or unspoken?
Because when effort meets clarity, that’s when performance actually elevates.
Trying harder might get you through a day.
But it will never get you through a season.
And that’s worth thinking about.
