Daniel H. Pink: Drive (2010, Canongate Books)
eBook
English language
Published Jan. 4, 2010 by Canongate Books.
Forget everything you thought you knew about how to motivate people - at work, at school, at home. It's wrong. As Daniel H. Pink explains in his new and paradigm-shattering book DRIVE: THE SURPRISING TRUTH ABOUT WHAT MOTIVATES US, the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today's world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does - and how that affects every aspect of our lives. He demonstrates that while the old-fashioned carrot-and-stick approach worked successfully in the 20th century, it's precisely the wrong way to motivate people for today's challenges. In DRIVE, he reveals the three elements of true motivation: AUTONOMY - the desire to direct our own lives; …
Forget everything you thought you knew about how to motivate people - at work, at school, at home. It's wrong. As Daniel H. Pink explains in his new and paradigm-shattering book DRIVE: THE SURPRISING TRUTH ABOUT WHAT MOTIVATES US, the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today's world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does - and how that affects every aspect of our lives. He demonstrates that while the old-fashioned carrot-and-stick approach worked successfully in the 20th century, it's precisely the wrong way to motivate people for today's challenges. In DRIVE, he reveals the three elements of true motivation: AUTONOMY - the desire to direct our own lives; MASTERY - the urge to get better and better at something that matters; PURPOSE - the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. Along the way, he takes us to companies that are enlisting new approaches to motivation and introduces us to the scientists and entrepreneurs who are pointing a bold way forward. DRIVE is bursting with big ideas - the rare book that will change how you think and transform how you live.
This book could be easily half as long as it is. It repeats itself a lot.
That said, there are a few interesting ideas and insights in there and it sparked a few thought processes for me, which is good.
Basics on intrinsic, self directed motivation. Why extrinsic carrot and sticks are bad in today's workplace and economy. We need autonomy, mastery and purpose. Good reading list and tool boxes for doing type I (intrinsic work). External rewards to work for algorithmic tasks but kill heuristic, creative work. Type I still care about money and recognition, but that's not the goal. Master is a pain , a mindset, and a asymptote.
Basics on intrinsic, self directed motivation. Why extrinsic carrot and sticks are bad in today's workplace and economy. We need autonomy, mastery and purpose. Good reading list and tool boxes for doing type I (intrinsic work). External rewards to work for algorithmic tasks but kill heuristic, creative work. Type I still care about money and recognition, but that's not the goal. Master is a pain , a mindset, and a asymptote.
Glad I went back and finished this one. I find the anecdotes and history of this line of study fascinating, and appreciate the call to action. Now I've got a subsequent list of recommendations to read.
Glad I went back and finished this one. I find the anecdotes and history of this line of study fascinating, and appreciate the call to action. Now I've got a subsequent list of recommendations to read.
The book does its own summary at the end. A twitter version, a cocktail party version, and a one paragraph per chapter version. The summary is all one needs to read. Intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation was eye opening, it changed my thinking about rewards and especially badges on websites.
Quick read, with a noticeable mid-executive bent, but good pop summation of a lot of behaviorial research centered around self-determination theory, and a bottom line of "it's time businesses and organizations caught up with the science" of what motivates people.
Quick read, with a noticeable mid-executive bent, but good pop summation of a lot of behaviorial research centered around self-determination theory, and a bottom line of "it's time businesses and organizations caught up with the science" of what motivates people.
