Work Different, Not Harder

We have all heard the term “work smarter, not harder”. I have always had a problem with this euphemism. For me, it implied that if things still didn’t work out, I was either lazy or stupid. I would like to think that most leaders are smart enough and tough enough to get the job done but often get “stuck” in how we approach a problem. “Work different, not harder” may be a more appropriate way to look at how we get “unstuck”. Rethink your approach, look through a different lens, ask for other opinions to gain another view. Working harder can give us some incremental improvements, whereas taking a different approach can improve results by multiples.