DRIVE: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us -Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead Books, 2009 The central idea of this book is the mismatch between what science knows about the way humans function and what business does. Motivation 1.0 = Carrot & Stick; Motivation 2.0 – if. . . then; motivation 3.0 is the deep seated drive to direct our own lives, to extend and expand our abilities and to live a life of purpose. Motivation 1.0; Carrot & Stick Reward can deliver a short-term boost but the effort wears off and can reduce longer term motivation.

This doesn’t fit with new business model which is mostly open source where people are working on systems that are mostly created and used for free. Most jobs today are complex with no specific patterns or established instructions, no scripts and you have to experiment with possibilities to devise a novel solution.

The world today needs creative thinking and only intrinsic motivation or the drive to do something because it is interesting, challenging and absorbing is essential for high levels of creativity.

Extrinsic motivation is detrimental to these jobs because people don’t want to take risks and lose the reward.

Have to ensure that baseline rewards are adequate and equitable – if not the focus will be on unfairness and anxiety.

Often give rise to cheating, addiction and dangerously myopic thinking.

Incentives cloud thinking and dull creativity because rewards narrow our focus which is only ok when there is only one possible answer.

Rewards can work if the task is routine and accomplishing it requires following a prescribe set of rules to a specified end. Since task is probably boring must offer rationale for why task is necessary, acknowledge task is boring and allow people to complete task in their own way.

To use rewards in a creative project make sure there is already a genuinely motivating environment, the baseline rewards are sufficient, congenial place to work, must have autonomy, daily duties must relate to larger purpose, and there is a sense of urgency and management should get out of the way.

Effective rewards: nontangible rewards – praise and positive feedbacks and providing useful information.

Motivation 3.0 – intrinsic motivation

Should focus our efforts on creating environments for meeting psychological needs to flourish.

The three innate psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness

Research is now showing us that we need to look at human’s well-being and effective functioning – not focus on malady and dysfunction.

Need to craft a new operating system that will better do this. Element #1: Autonomy

Management must create conditions for people to do their best work

Focus on results only – don’t worry about how a person accomplishes the task

Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement Element #2: Mastery

The desire to get better and better at something that matters: the urge to master something new and engaging was the best predictor of productivity.

Solving complex problems requires an inquiring mind and the willingness to experiment one’s way to a fresh solution

When they have mastered the work they can be truly engaged and forget themselves –only focus on the activity which is its own reward

First law of mastery: it is a mindset – see intelligence as a process that with effort can be increased; sets learning, not performance goals

Second law of mastery: requires Perseverance and passion for the long term – requires GRIT

The third law of mastery: you can approach mastery but never quite reach it: the joy is more in the pursuit than the reaching.

Management: provide clear goals, immediate feedback, offer challenges well matched to abilities and when that happens people enjoy their task and they become better at it.

Element #3: purpose

Purpose provides a context for autonomy and mastery

Purpose provides activation energy for living

Business goals must blend with purpose

If you humanize, with purpose driven words, what people say then probably you will humanize what they do.

Use purpose driven words to describe your business.

Articulate purpose-centered policies

Management: connecting an individual’s purpose in an autonomous way at work made the worker more satisfied; designate some of the charitable money to the employees to give to their choice; give people a bit of time each week to focus on that part of their job that is most meaningful to them.

“healthy individuals and businesses begin with purpose and consider profit a way to move toward that end or a happy by-product of its attainment.”

Type I Behavior: a way of thinking and an approach to life built around intrinsic, rather than extrinsic motivators. It is powered by our innate need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Type I people are made not born! Type I for Parents and Educators

don’t emphasize routines, right answers and standardization for homework: autonomy is flexibility in how done, mastery – novel, engaging task; purpose

must be made clear; turn homework into home learning Fed EX Day: set aside one day and have kids come up with a problem to solve or a project

to tackle. Turn students into teachers Do-it-yourself report card: at beginning of semester ask students to list their top learning

goals – at end of semester they create their own report card Give kids allowance and chores but don’t combine them Praise effort and strategy – not intelligence; make praise specific; praise in private Help the kids see the big picture: why they do what they do.

Type I for Organizations Create engaging, productive work places that foster intrinsic motivation Encourage peer-to-peer “now that” rewards: at any point, without permission, any employee

can award a $50- award to another employee. Conduct an autonomy audit:

1. How much autonomy do you have over your tasks at work? 2. How much autonomy do you have over your time at work: when you arrive, when

you leave, and how you allocate your hours each day? 3. How much autonomy do you have over your team at work – that is, to what extent

are you able to choose the people with whom you typically collaborate? 4. How much autonomy do you have over your technique at work – how you actually

perform the main responsibilities of your job? Hand out 3 x 5 card: have all write down one sentence in response to this question: What

is our company’s purpose? This is why we do what we do. Managers: involve people in goal setting, use non-controlling language Hold office hours. Invite people in for any reason they choose (1 – 2 hours a week) Use pronoun test: listen to your folks, if they use we then they are engaged, if they use

‘they’ then they are likely disengaged. Turn the next off-site retreat into a Fed Ex Day. Instead of team building let them work on

anything they want with anyone they want – they just must deliver something – a new idea or process. “Real challenges are more invigorating than controlled leisure.”

Effective organizations compensate people in amounts and in ways that allow individuals to mostly forget about compensation and instead focus on the work itself: ensure internal and external fairness; pay more than average; if you use performance metrics make them wide-ranging, relevant and hard to game (meaning use several different ones)

Type I for Individuals Think about what you do, when do you feel most with it, in sync, joyful at your work. How

can you replicate that time? Clare Booth Luce offered advice to JFK: A great man is one sentence.” As a way to focus

on your purpose, ask yourself: what is your one sentence? Ask yourself small questions: to keep yourself motivated ask yourself whether you were

better today than you were yesterday? Not just at your one sentence, but anything you set your mind to.

Take a sabbatical Give yourself a performance review: set learning goals and performance goals. Once a

month check on them. Set larger and smaller goals. Move five steps closer to mastery with deliberate practice:

1. Remember that practice should aim to improve performance 2. Repetition matters. 3. Seek constant, critical feedback 4. Focus ruthlessly on where you need help. 5. Prepare for the process to be mentally and physically exhausting.

Alan Webber, cofounder of Fast Company uses this simple exercise to determine if he is functioning as though he is internally motivated: on one side of a 3/x5 card answer: What gets you up in the morning? On the other side: What keeps you up at night? Pare to a single sentence. If both answers give you a sense of meaning and direction then you are on your way – if not, What are you going to do about it?

Create your own personal, motivational poster. Motivation is deeply personal and only you know what words or images will resonate with you.