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TLP487: Three Ways to Motivate Teams and Align Strategy

The Leadership Podcast

Release Date: 11/26/2025

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Hans Lagerweij is the author of The Why Whisperer: How to Motivate and Align Teams That Get Your Strategy Done. In this episode, Hans shares that he wrote the book after watching great strategies fail during execution. He saw a gap between understanding the importance of purpose and actually implementing it. 

Hans explains that you can't shout your way to purpose. Whispering requires getting close to your team and having two-way conversations. He emphasizes that leaders need to listen to personal motivations and ideas from team members. 

Hans presents three options when there's misalignment between personal and organizational purpose: change your personal why, take leadership to influence the organizational why, or leave.  

Listen to this episode to learn how to move your organization's purpose from theory into practice.

You can find episode 487 on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Watch this Episode on YouTube | Hans Lagerweij on Three Ways to Motivate Teams and Align Strategy

https://bit.ly/TLP-487

 

Key Takeaways

[03:06] Hans reveals his first job at 15 was in a DIY store managing screws and tools, sparking his commercial curiosity.

[05:04] Hans explains the “Why Whisperer” addresses the gap between Simon Sinek's purpose theory and practical implementation.

[06:25] Hans attributes strategy failure to lack of discipline in communicating and aligning teams, not discipline itself.

[07:06] Hans explains whispering means close two-way conversations with teams rather than top-down broadcasting.

[10:37] Hans outlines three options for misaligned purposes: change your why, influence the organization's why, or leave.

[15:35] Hans talks about clarifying the why and how that helps simplify decision making for leaders.

[19:18] Hans recommends asking team members what makes them most proud to understand what drives them.

[20:53] Hans introduces the "reverse elevator pitch" where leaders articulate direction, importance, and excitement in three minutes.

[22:30] Hans explains “purpose” is universal across cultures but requires different communication approaches depending on cultural norms.

[27:47] Hans challenges leaders to move “purpose” from wall posters into the organization's heartbeat.

[28:50] And remember…“The louder the world becomes, the more radical it is to whisper truths. Not to be heard by all — but to be remembered by someone" - Lawrence Nault

 

Quotable Quotes

"You can't shout your way to purpose."

" Whispering means you need to be so close with your team to have actually a conversation, a two way conversation and you know, to listen to ideas and personal motivations from your team. So yeah, it's really whispering to me is, you know, about getting people to own the why, not just follow it. So it is seriously going from a beautiful slogan on the wall to something that is, you know, in the hearts and minds. "

"A clear purpose really helps, you know, to reduce options. Choices from a million to just a few right ones."

"A clear purpose absolutely will save your time, will, you know, set your directions. As I said, it's your North Star."

 "Purpose is absolutely universal language, but, you know, you have to speak it in different accents."

"In the end, the most powerful strategy is the one that your team believes in and that they're willing to fight for."

"If there is a conflict between the two, if there's disconnect, it will always feel like misalignment. It will always feel like, you know, you're not at the place in that organization."

 "If you can synchronize individual and organizational purposes, you know, or wise, you know, then you create an authentic connection that really drives results."

"In every culture, in every country, you know, people want to feel a sense of purpose. I think it's simply a fundamental human need."

 

These are the books mentioned in this episode

Resources Mentioned