Hunger: Pistons That Keep The Quiet Engine Firing

Every high-performing team has a certain sound. It’s not loud or flashy. It’s that quiet hum that tells you something’s working under the hood. Progress is happening, not because someone’s cracking a whip, but because the team wants to move forward. That’s hunger.

Patrick Lencioni describes it as one of the three virtues of the ideal team player. But it’s easy to mistake hunger for something else, ambition, competitiveness, or even obsession. Those can all look similar on the surface. The difference is that true hunger is quieter. It doesn’t shout; it hums.

The Engine That Keeps Moving

Hunger is the engine of performance. It’s what takes ideas off the whiteboard and onto the floor.

It rarely begins in the boardroom. It starts on the floor, in a clinic hallway, near the line where a pallet jack blocks the exit, and someone mutters, “There has to be a better way.” Hunger is that sentence followed by action.

You can have the smartest cockpit in the world, the clearest gauges, the best driver, but if there’s no engine, nothing moves. Hunger provides that steady, consistent force that keeps the team advancing, even when the road gets rough.

But not all engines sound the same. Some roar for attention. Others run hot, constantly redlining until something breaks. The best ones? They hum quietly, tuned for endurance. You can trust them to start every time.

That’s what great hunger looks like in people. It’s not the loudest voice in the meeting, or the one posting endless quotes on LinkedIn. It’s the one who keeps showing up, keeps pushing, keeps finding ways to improve, without burning themselves or others out.

The Pistons Firing Beneath the Surface

In a well-tuned engine, pistons work in rhythm. They don’t compete, they cooperate. Each one fires, rests, and resets, over and over again, creating sustained power.

A hungry team member works the same way. They cycle through that pattern of effort, reflection, and adjustment. Yes, just like the PDSA cycle.  They understand that sustainable progress comes from cadence, not chaos.

The piston metaphor matters because it reminds us that hunger isn’t about speed alone. It’s about motion. Controlled, repeatable, and directional. Without rhythm, engines seize up. Without rhythm, people do too.

Teams with real hunger don’t need constant pep talks. Their drive comes from within, from pride in the work and belief in the outcome. They see obstacles as tune-ups or detours, not stop signs.

Too Much Fuel, Too Little Air

Like any engine, hunger needs balance. Too much fuel and you flood it. Too little, and it stalls.

In business terms, too much hunger turns into burnout. You see it when people push past the point of clarity, doing more for the sake of doing more. It’s speed without direction. The pistons are firing hard, but they’re not moving the wheels. 

Refer to my previous #physicsfriday article on speed and velocity. Is Your Business Operating at Lightspeed or Just Spinning?

On the other side, too little hunger creates complacency. Meetings drag, projects stall, and “good enough” becomes the default setting. The team still runs, technically, but nobody’s touching the accelerator.

The sweet spot is where hunger is steady, consistent, and sustainable. Enough to keep moving, not so much that you run out of gas.

The Leader’s Role in Tuning Hunger

Leaders often misread hunger. They assume people either have it or they don’t. In reality, it’s a condition of the environment as much as the individual.

You can build hunger in a team by creating clarity, clear goals, clear feedback, and clear wins. When people understand the purpose behind their work, the engine naturally kicks in.

But when goals shift constantly, or feedback disappears, the hunger fades. It’s like trying to drive with the windows fogged up. People can’t see where they’re going, so they stop caring how quickly they can get there and slow down to a crawl.

Good leaders also recognize when hunger turns unhealthy. When someone’s working at full throttle all the time, it’s not sustainable. Engines need idle time.  People need rest.

Performance comes from recovery as much as effort.

The best leaders don’t praise exhaustion; they praise endurance. They know how to listen to the hum of the team, and when it starts sounding strained, they pull over for maintenance.

Hunger in Real Life

I’ve seen quiet hunger in action more times than I can count. It’s the operations manager who doesn’t need to be asked to tighten a process. The pharmacist who spots a pattern that others missed. The technician who stays curious long after training ends.

They’re not chasing titles or applause. They just care. And that care compounds over time.

When you build a culture full of people like that, people who move with quiet conviction, you don’t need to force momentum. It becomes the default setting.

When the Engine Falters

You can tell when a team’s hunger is fading. Conversations get slower. Energy drops. Decisions take longer than they should. It’s not laziness, it’s loss of purpose.

At that point, you can’t just throw fuel on the fire. You need to find the blockage. Maybe it’s an unclear direction. Maybe it’s a lack of recognition. Maybe the team’s been grinding too long without seeing progress.

Fix the cause, not the symptom. Get the pistons firing again by reconnecting people to why their work matters.

Three Moves to Feed Hunger Without Blowing a Gasket

1. Shorten the loop. Weekly touchpoints beat quarterly marathons. Small explosions, constant motion.

2. Show the spark. A visible "What moved this week?" board turns combustion into motivation.

3. Define done. Pistons need full cycles. Close projects, celebrate, reset. Unfinished work leaks compression.

The Tune-Up

If you’re reading this and thinking about your own engine, that’s good. Because hunger isn’t permanent. It’s something you maintain.

Ask yourself:

• When was the last time you felt excited about the work, not just obligated?

• Are you pushing too hard, or coasting too much?

• Do you still feel that hum under the hood, or is it all quiet?

If the answer is the latter response, it’s time for a tune-up.

Because in the end, hunger is what turns potential into progress. It’s what keeps the car moving when the weather turns rough. It’s the quiet pulse that keeps great teams alive.

And if you listen closely, you can tell which ones have it; you can hear the difference in the way they move.