I was sitting in the back of the room, listening to Brian.

“I know you guys have been working hard to meet our quota this quarter, but we still need to do more. That means we work this Saturday.”

I cringed. Brian’s team was launching an impossible product in an impossible market and they were winning. With one word, Brian took their energy and reversed it. He used the word, “but.” With that one word, he told his team that all their hard work was for nothing and because of that, they were going to have to work Saturday.

Change that one word to “and.”

“I know you guys have been working hard to meet our quota this quarter, and we still need to do more. That means we work this Saturday.”

We are still working Saturday, and we acknowledged the effort. Does this make a difference? With my team it does. -TF