Harvard Business Review Logo Leading teams If You Want to Motivate Someone, Shut Up Already by Brandon Irwin From the Magazine (July–August 2013) Post Post Share Save Print Leer en españolLer em português Post Post Share Save Print The finding: Words of encouragement do not inspire people to perform better during a workout. A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review. Post Post Share Save Print Read more on Leading teams or related topics Career coaching, Motivating people and Developing employees