The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant You Don't Get an A for Effort
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Jul 16, 2026 They unpack the difference between effort and excellence and why praising effort alone can mislead. Coaching replaces grading as the right response when results lag. Misaligned priorities quietly derail teams, so they explore a consequential/reversible 2x2 for decision making. They also examine how leaders’ emotional signals shape priorities and how to repair and realign systems.
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Effort Needs To Produce Progress
- Praising effort alone can mislead people into persisting with ineffective strategies instead of changing approach.
- Adam Grant argues we should praise effort that produces measurable progress, not effort as an end in itself.
Reward Effort With Coaching Not Grades
- When you see hard work without results, invest time to coach people on working smarter or provide the missing training.
- Brené Brown recommends giving time and thought partnership instead of just withholding reward or praising empty effort.
Prioritize By Consequence And Reversibility
- Use a two-by-two of Consequential versus Reversible to prioritize decisions: focus energy on high-consequence, irreversible choices.
- Adam Grant recounts Jeff Bezos' rule to procrastinate on irreversible bets and act quickly on reversible ones.
