“There’s always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favor – and after that one more thing – and after that one more thing, etc. etc.”

That line from Lieutenant General Hal Moore has stayed with me for years. Not because it sounds motivational, but because of who said it and what he lived through before he ever said it.

I had the privilege of meeting him as a cadet during a class where we had already read We Were Soldiers Once… and Young. So I knew exactly who I was walking in to meet. This was before the movie, before his story became widely known outside military and leadership circles. To us, he was already a living case study in leadership under extreme pressure.

He walked into the room older, yes, but still sharp. Bold. His command presence had not faded at all. He did not need to demand attention. He simply had it.

He did not talk about heroics. He talked about responsibility. He talked about people. And he talked about the mindset leaders must adopt when things are going wrong.

Especially when they are going wrong.

The Context Behind the Quote

Hal Moore commanded 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam. Surrounded, outnumbered, cut off, and under relentless attack, he led his soldiers through one of the most intense engagements of the war. Decisions were immediate and consequential.

In those conditions, the idea of being “out of options” does not exist.

You cannot say:

• The plan failed

• The support did not arrive

• The situation is worse than expected

And then stop.

Because stopping is not an option.

There is always one more thing you can do to influence the situation in your favor.

What I Remember Most From That Day

What struck me was how composed he was. No bravado. No theatrics. Just clarity.

He spoke like someone who had already seen the worst and had come to a simple conclusion:

You do not quit while there is still something left to try.

That perspective changes how you approach setbacks. It replaces emotion with responsibility.

You do not ask, “Is this fair?” You ask, “What can I still influence?”

You do not ask, “Why is this happening?” You ask, “What is the next action?”

You do not ask, “Is this my fault?” You ask, “What is within my control?”

Where This Connects for Me

Years later, this quote resonated with me in a completely different context. During my time working through Lean and Six Sigma, especially in my Black Belt days, I learned the discipline of Kaizen and continuous improvement.

Kaizen teaches that improvement is rarely a breakthrough moment. It is the accumulation of small, deliberate actions taken consistently over time. You do not fix the whole system at once. You look for the next improvement. The next adjustment. The next iteration.

The next thing you can do.

Hal Moore was describing the same mindset, forged under very different conditions. Not process improvement in a conference room, but survival and leadership in a battlefield. Yet the principle is identical.

When the first countermeasure fails, you do not stop. When the second adjustment does not work, you do not stop. When the situation deteriorates, you do not stop.

You look for the next lever you can pull to influence the outcome.

Leadership After the Plan Fails

Anyone can lead when things are going well. The real test of leadership happens after the first plan fails. And the second. And sometimes the third.

That is where many leaders mentally exit, even if they are still physically present.

Hal Moore’s words are a reminder that leadership is often defined not by the plan that worked, but by the persistence that kept people moving after the plan did not.

The Quiet Power of “One More Thing”

It is not dramatic. It is not glamorous. It is rarely visible.

But it is the difference between:

A team that gives up and a team that regroups

A project that dies and a project that adapts

A setback that defines you and one that refines you

There is always one more thing you can do.

And after that, one more thing.

And after that, one more thing.

That was not a slogan to him. It was a way of operating.

One that I later saw echoed in the discipline of continuous improvement.

And one that still shapes how I approach challenges today.