Drive: What Really Motivates Us?

Posted on October 16th 2010

It turns out that money can’t buy happiness or motivation.  It works well for motivating people initially, but only to an extent that it creates a willingness to work.  When used as a sole motivator, monetary incentives can even stifle creative decision making and problem solving skills in knowledge workers.

The visually engaging presentation above summarizes the ideas behind Dan Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.  When I saw this video, I had to check out the book, and was fortunate enough to find the time to finish the audio version of over the last two months.

The studies Pink highlights suggest that adding more money to the equation doesn’t necessarily prompt better performance, especially when the work requires judgment-based decision making and pro-activity.  Many management “incentive plans” for employees are based around monetary bonuses and compensation.

So what really motivates us to become better at our jobs (or do anything constructive for that matter) continuously? Read Full Post »