Actually, people love to work hard

The narrative that employees don't want to work hard is a myth perpetuated by executives and media. People are intrinsically motivated when given a clear mission, shared values, autonomy, and mutual trust. When teams underperform, the root cause is almost always poor leadership, dehumanizing work conditions, lack of agency, inadequate tools, or misaligned goals — not laziness. Leaders who create the right environment and get out of the way will find their teams over-deliver. The cynical view of worker motivation reveals a failure of leadership imagination, not a flaw in workers.