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Keeping a team motivated during tough times comes down to four things: telling the truth instead of performing optimism, narrowing focus to one meaningful target so people know what matters, staying visibly present instead of disappearing into investor calls, and reconnecting the work to the mission. People can handle hard news. What drains motivation is sensing their leader doesn't see reality as clearly as they do.

At Stitcher, I tried to push through those moments with optimism. I thought if I stayed positive, everyone else would too. It didn’t work. The team didn’t need blind optimism - they needed honesty and direction. They needed to believe we could still win, but also that I saw the reality as clearly as they did.

The first step in keeping a team motivated is telling the truth. People can handle bad news. What drains motivation isn’t the problem - it’s the sense that leaders are pretending it isn’t there. When you say, “Yeah, this is hard,” it creates relief. It makes people trust you. From there, you can rebuild energy around action instead of anxiety.

The second step is focus. In tough times, people lose motivation when they don’t know what matters most. Uncertainty creates exhaustion. Narrow the scope. Say, “Here’s the one thing we’re optimizing for this quarter.” Give people a target small enough to hit and meaningful enough to matter. Progress is the antidote to burnout.

The third step is presence. During rough stretches, founders tend to disappear into investor calls and financial models (I certainly did). That’s the moment when the team needs to see you the most. Walk around. Join standups. Thank people for the work they’re doing. You don’t need a big speech - just visible engagement. It signals that you haven’t given up.

The last step is meaning. Remind people why the company exists, not just what it’s building. Reconnect the work to the mission. People will go through a lot if they believe the outcome matters.

The best founders I’ve seen don’t keep teams motivated by pretending things are fine. They keep them motivated by making the struggle feel purposeful.

Tough times are when culture gets defined. Optimism without honesty feels fake. Honesty without hope feels heavy. The job is to hold both - to tell the truth about where you are, and still make people believe it’s worth fighting for.

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