Your goal is not to motivate average people… it’s a game-changing shift from trying to fix people to finding the right ones. It’s about putting your energy into selection, not correction, and it completely reframes how you build a team.
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Meaning
The core message is a strategic pivot: stop wasting energy trying to light a fire under unmotivated employees and instead, focus your resources on finding people who are already lit.
Explanation
Look, I’ve seen this firsthand. So many managers, they think their job is to be a motivational speaker. They’re constantly trying to pump up a team that just… isn’t. It’s exhausting. And frankly, it’s a massive drain on your most valuable resource: your time and mental energy.
What Brian Tracy is saying—and he’s dead right—is that you flip the script. You stop asking “How can I make this person care?” and start asking “Does this person already care?” You hire for that intrinsic spark. Because you can’t teach drive. You can’t train passion. You can only facilitate it. When you hire someone who’s already motivated, your job becomes about channeling that energy, not creating it from scratch. It’s the difference between pushing a car and just steering one that’s already running.
Quote Summary
Reading Level55
Aesthetic Score80
Origin & Factcheck
This quote comes straight from Brian Tracy’s 2001 book, Hire and Keep the Best People. It’s a cornerstone of his philosophy on building high-performing teams. You might sometimes see similar sentiments floating around, but this is the original source—it’s pure Tracy, focusing on the practical side of business leadership and personal effectiveness.
Attribution Summary
Author Bio
Brian Tracy, a prolific author gained global reputation because of his best seller book list such as Eat That Frog!, Goals!, and The Psychology of Selling, and created influential audio programs like The Psychology of Achievement. He is sought after guru for personal development and business performance. Brian Tracy International, coaches millions of professionals and corporates on sales, goal setting, leadership, and productivity.
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Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | Your goal is not to motivate average people, but to hire motivated people |
| Book Details | Publication Year/Date: 2001; ISBN: 978-1576751275; Last edition: 2001, Berrett-Koehler Publishers; Number of pages: 112. |
| Where is it? | Chapter: Motivated Hiring; Approximate page from 2001 edition |
Context
In the book, this isn’t just a throwaway line. It’s part of a larger framework for systematic hiring. Tracy argues that finding the right person is a process, one that’s far more important than trying to “fix” the wrong person later. He places the responsibility squarely on leadership to get the hiring decision right from the start, making this quote the foundation of his entire argument.
Usage Examples
So how do you actually use this? It’s all about shifting your focus in real situations.
- For a Startup Founder: You’re stretched thin. Every hire is critical. Instead of being wowed by a fancy resume, you dig deep in interviews for signs of genuine passion and a self-starter attitude. You’re looking for the person who’s already working on their skills, not the one who expects you to teach them everything.
- For a Department Head: You’ve got an open req. The easy thing is to fill it fast. The smart thing is to hold out. You redesign your interview questions to uncover intrinsic motivation. You ask about side projects, what they’re curious about, times they’ve gone above and beyond without being asked. You’re screening for drive.
- For a Team Lead Stuck with an Underperformer: This is the tough one. You stop spending 80% of your coaching time on the 20% who are disengaged. You double down on your motivated players, and you make the hard decision to move the consistently unmotivated off the team. It’s a brutal but necessary application of the principle.
To whom it appeals?
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FAQ
Question: Doesn’t this mean we should just fire all our average performers?
Answer: Not at all. It’s a hiring strategy, not a firing one. The idea is to *start* hiring motivated people. For your existing team, you work with what you have, but you stop the cycle of bringing in more people you’ll have to “fix.”
Question: But what about company culture? Isn’t it our job to motivate?
Answer: Great question. There’s a huge difference between a culture that *demotivates* and one that *cultivates*. Your job is to create an environment where natural motivation can thrive—remove obstacles, provide purpose, and reward initiative. You can’t inject motivation, but you can absolutely suffocate it with bad management.
Question: How can you even spot “motivated” people in an interview?
Answer: You look for evidence, not just answers. Ask behavioral questions: “Tell me about a time you taught yourself a new skill for a project.” or “What’s something you’ve accomplished that you’re really proud of, outside of work?” Listen for energy, ownership, and a history of proactive behavior.
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