Attitude & Hustle: The Unsung Drivers of Success in Business and Life

Sep 4

What a signed game ball taught me about leadership, teamwork, and winning in business and life

When I look around my home office, one of my most prized possessions isn’t a framed diploma or a plaque from my professional career. It’s a basketball.

Not just any basketball—this one is signed by my college teammates and coaches and inscribed with the words “Attitude & Hustle Award.” I played Division III basketball at a Boston-area college. I was an okay scorer, a better rebounder, and a steady starter. But the recognition that meant the most to me wasn’t about points scored or rebounds pulled down. It was this game ball—a reminder that what my coaches and teammates valued most wasn’t just my performance, but the way I approached the game.

That ball has followed me ever since, a daily visual reminder that attitude and hustle matter. They mattered when I was a college athlete, and they matter even more in business and life today.

Now, as the founder and Principal Consultant of Hoagland Management & Consulting LLC (HMC), I see firsthand how these two traits—attitude and hustle—are often the deciding factors in whether individuals, teams, and organizations succeed. Whether I’m coaching executives, guiding business development initiatives, or helping companies navigate complex transitions, I find myself asking:

What’s the attitude here?
Where’s the hustle?

Let’s break down each one.

Attitude: The Lens Through Which You View the Game

Attitude is more than a mood. It’s the operating system for how you interpret challenges, opportunities, people, and the world around you.

In business, attitude sets the tone for relationships with customers, vendors, employees, and peers. It influences how you respond to setbacks and whether you’re seen as a problem solver or a problem creator.

Here are a few dimensions of attitude that I see as critical:

1. Optimism vs. Pessimism

A can-do, optimistic outlook opens doors. It helps leaders and teams push past obstacles, envision possibilities, and inspire confidence in others. Conversely, a persistently negative outlook narrows options, kills momentum, and often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

2. Scarcity vs. Abundance Mindset

Do you believe there’s not enough opportunity to go around, or do you view the world as full of possibilities? Leaders with an abundance mindset tend to collaborate, build networks, and share credit. Scarcity thinkers hoard information and miss chances for growth.

3. Emotional Intelligence and Soft Skills

How do you manage your own emotions and how do you read and respond to others? Emotional intelligence (EQ) has become just as important as IQ in today’s workplace. High EQ leaders defuse tension, build trust, and create win-win outcomes.

4. Resilience and Grit

Adversity comes for all of us from failed product launches, lost contracts, to tough quarters. The real differentiator is how you respond. Do you fold, or do you adapt and push through? Grit, the ability to keep showing up, keep problem-solving, and keep moving forward is often the hidden superpower of high achievers.

5. Problem-Solving Orientation

When faced with a roadblock, some people point fingers, others shrug their shoulders. But those with the right attitude look for solutions. They draw on their circle of influence, use creative thinking, and keep moving toward the goal.

In my consulting practice, I see time and again how an executive’s or a team’s attitude can make or break outcomes. A procurement leader with a collaborative, positive approach can strengthen vendor relationships and secure better terms. A program manager who remains calm and solutions-focused during a crisis can rally a cross-functional team to hit a critical milestone. And in the context of a post-merger integration when employees, customers, and suppliers may feel uncertain about the future, a business unit leader’s steady attitude and positive messaging can calm nerves, reduce anxiety, and build trust. This type of leadership not only stabilizes relationships but also helps align stakeholders around the new organization’s shared goals.

Hustle: Energy in Motion

If attitude is the lens, hustle is the engine.

But hustle is often misunderstood. It doesn’t simply mean working longer hours or grinding harder than everyone else. True hustle is about working smarter, channeling effort into the right plays, executed effectively, to create results.

On the basketball court, hustle wasn’t just about diving for loose balls. It was about running the offense with precision, setting strong picks, and making the extra pass. Effectively executed plays, done with energy and intention, often made the difference between a missed opportunity and two points on the board.

In business, hustle carries that same meaning. It’s about:

Using AI and technology to streamline processes and amplify productivity.
Collaborating across teams and partners to expand reach and capability.
Finding smarter, more efficient ways to solve problems and deliver value.
Putting persistence into the right priorities, not just adding more activity to your day.

I was reminded of this in a recent conversation with a company president, also a basketball fan and fellow Celtics supporter. We talked about hustle in his business: hustling to identify the right manufacturing partners, hustling to build strategic customer relationships, hustling to execute more effectively. For him, hustle wasn’t about burning out his team, it was about sharpening their focus, leveraging technology, and fostering collaboration to compete more effectively.

So in business, just like in sports, hustle isn’t about running harder until you’re exhausted. It’s about working with urgency, intention, and intelligence to put your organization in the best position to win.

The Intersection of Attitude and Hustle

Here’s the truth: attitude without hustle is wishful thinking. Hustle without the right attitude is just wasted motion.

The sweet spot is when both are aligned: a positive, resilient, solutions-focused mindset paired with the energy and persistence to execute.

A sales leader with a positive attitude who hustles to expand their network is far more likely to land a marquee account.
An engineer with a collaborative mindset who hustles to solve design challenges will accelerate innovation.
A business development team that believes in abundance and hustles to explore new markets will expand revenue streams.

At HMC, this intersection often shows up in the clients we serve. When we’re helping a company develop strategy, manage a post-merger integration, or drive a critical program, we pay close attention to both dimensions. We ask: Do they have the right attitude to see opportunities clearly? Do they have the hustle to execute relentlessly and intelligently?

Practical Applications: How Leaders Can Cultivate Attitude and Hustle

Leaders can’t afford to treat attitude and hustle as intangibles left to chance. These are qualities you can assess, coach, and even systematize in your organization.

Here’s how:

1. Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill

Technical skills can be taught. Attitude is harder to shift. Make positivity, resilience, and problem-solving orientation part of your hiring criteria.

2. Recognize and Reward Hustle

Just like that signed basketball from my college days, recognition matters. Celebrate not just outcomes but the energy, focus, and persistence that lead to them.

3. Model the Behavior

Leaders set the tone. Show your team how to respond with optimism, resilience, and grit. Demonstrate hustle by being engaged, responsive, and willing to go the extra mile.

4. Build Systems that Encourage Smart Hustle

Incentives, clear metrics, and accountability structures can all reinforce hustle. For example, tying KPIs to both effort (pipeline activity, customer interactions) and outcomes (revenue, margins, efficiency gains) ensures hustle is aligned with results.

5. Coach and Develop Soft Skills

Invest in training and coaching around emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, critical thinking, and technology adoption. These skills amplify the impact of both attitude and hustle.

Stories from the Field

I’ve seen the power of attitude and hustle play out across industries:

In aerospace manufacturing, a team facing tough delivery deadlines succeeded not because they had more resources, but because they maintained a problem-solving mindset and hustled to redesign workflows.
In private equity transitions, the companies that thrive in post-merger aren’t always the ones with the best technology. They’re the ones whose leaders maintain a can-do attitude and hustle to align systems, people, and processes quickly.
In small and mid-sized manufacturing firms, I’ve watched CEOs hustle to open new markets, even as they balanced day-to-day operations. Their resilience and persistence often set the cultural tone for the entire organization.

Why Attitude and Hustle Are Strategic Advantages

In a competitive business landscape, companies look for every possible advantage -technology, capital, market position. But the hidden advantage is often cultural: the collective attitude and hustle of the organization.

Customer Experience: Customers feel the difference when they work with teams that have positive attitudes and hustle to meet their needs.
Operational Excellence: Smart hustle drives continuous improvement. Attitude sustains morale during change initiatives.
Business Development: Entering new markets or securing marquee accounts requires persistence (hustle) and a belief in possibility (attitude).
Leadership Development: Leaders who coach attitude and hustle into their teams create organizations that are more resilient, adaptable, and successful.

At HMC, we help companies translate these traits into strategy and execution. Whether it’s guiding interim leadership, developing strategy, or supporting post-merger integration, we see attitude and hustle as both individual and organizational imperatives.

Closing Reflection

That basketball in my office isn’t just a relic of my college years. It’s a daily reminder of what really moves the needle in sports, business, and life.

You can have skill, resources, or even luck. But without the right attitude and without hustle, you’ll never reach your full potential.

And remember hustle doesn’t mean burning yourself out by working harder. It means working smarter. On the court, it was about running plays effectively. In business, it’s about leveraging tools like AI and technology, collaborating with partners, and focusing energy where it matters most.

On the flip side, with a positive, resilient attitude and a smart, focused hustle, you give yourself and your organization the best chance to win on the court, in the marketplace, and in life.

So I’ll leave you with the same question I often ask my clients:

What’s your attitude today?
And how’s your hustle?

About the Author
Michael V. Hoagland is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Hoagland Management & Consulting LLC (HMC), a boutique consulting firm based in Connecticut that partners with organizations to drive growth, strengthen operations, and navigate complex transitions. With over 40 years of leadership experience in the aerospace, defense, and manufacturing industries, Michael has built a reputation for guiding companies through strategy development, post-merger integration, program management, and business development initiatives. A former Division III basketball player at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Michael continues to draw on the lessons of teamwork, attitude, and hustle that shaped both his athletic and professional journey.

Michael Hoagland