You can skip this paragraph, and jump down to the content. But…
{During March, 2013, I wrote 30 blog posts — “30 Books in 30 Days.” These were to remember and celebrate our 15 years of the First Friday Book Synopsis. (Our 15th Anniversary was on April 5, 2013). I have presented a synopsis of a business book a month, every month, since April 1998. So, I chose 30 “important books” from the 15 years. But I had to “skip over” some terrific books. I am doing a little “catch up” with an occasional post. Here is the first of what will be a few more summaries/remembrances of some of the books I had to skip. To read the first 30, check out this post with all the titles, and links to the articles.}
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Synopsis presented June, 2010
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink. (Riverhead Hardcover. 2009)
For as long as I can remember, I have known the two primary types of motivation – intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation. And I know about the value of “incentives.” The Freakonomics guys have written a great deal about this. From Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner:
Experts are human, and humans respond to incentives. How any given expert treats you, therefore, will depend on how that expert’s incentives are set up.
We all learn to respond to incentives, negative and positive, from the outset of life. If you toddle over to the hot stove and touch it, you burn a finger. But if you bring home straight A’s from school, you get a new bike… An incentive is simply a means of urging people to do more of a good thing and less of a bad thing.
The chance of going to jail is certainly a strong incentive. But when it comes to crime, people respond to moral incentives (they don’t want to do something they consider wrong), and social incentives (they don’t want to be seen by others as doing something wrong). For certain types of misbehavior, social incentives are terribly powerful.
As we think about incentives, in many instances the “money” incentive seems to be the big one. And, I don’t disagree – having enough money, or more than enough, is a whole lot better than not having enough.
But Daniel Pink argues that the internal motivation—the “intrinsic motivation” — is the greater motivation. It brings out the best work, lasts longer… is simply superior. From the book:
“Intrinsic motivation is of great importance for all economic activities. It is inconceivable that people are motivated solely or even mainly by external incentives.” (Bruno Frey, University of Zurich, economist)…
Human motivation seemed to operate by laws that ran counter to what most scientists and citizens believed. “When money is used as an external reward for some activity, the subjects lose intrinsic interest for the activity.” Rewards can deliver a short-term boost – just as a jolt of caffeine can keep you cranking for a few more hours. But the effect wears off – and, worse, can reduce a person’s longer-term motivation to continue the project…
Pay your son to take out the trash — and you’ve pretty much guaranteed the kid will never do it again for free. What’s more, once the initial money buzz tapers off, you’ll likely have to increase the payment to continue compliance…
In environments where extrinsic rewards are most salient, many people work only to the point that triggers the award – and no further. Greatness and nearsightedness are incompatible. Meaningful achievement depends on lifting one’s sights and pushing toward the horizon.
And in the book, he makes this point:
“financial incentives – can result in a negative impact on overall performance…”
• and – by offering a reward, a principal signals to the agent that the task is undesirable. (If the task was desirable, the agent wouldn’t need a prod).
Mr. Pink tells the story of two encyclopedias. For #1, writers and experts were hired to write the entries. The other, the universe of “everyone” was invited to write entries, edit entries, correct entries. In the 1st, writers were paid. In the 2nd, no writers were paid. People would write for “free,” out of “internal/intrinsic motivation.” If you have not guessed, #1 was Encarta. Now, defunct. (From Wikipedia: In March 2009, Microsoft announced it was discontinuing the Encarta disc and online versions. As we all know, even Britannica is no longer printed). The 2nd is Wikipedia. Guess which one I check regularly?! From the book:
(Wikipedia “beat” Encarta). What happened? The conventional view of human motivation has a very hard time explaining this result.
The need for intrinsic motivation has grown with the kind of work so many of us do:
“Intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity; controlling extrinsic motivation is detrimental to creativity.” (Teresa Amabile, Harvard Business School). Partly because work has become more creative and less routine, it has also become more enjoyable.
It is true that people must be paid “enough.” But after that…
If someone’s baseline rewards aren’t adequate, or equitable, her focus will be on the unfairness of her situation and the anxiety of her circumstance. You’ll get neither the predictability of extrinsic motivation nor the weirdness of intrinsic motivation. You’ll get very little motivation at all. But once we’re past that threshold, carrots and sticks can achieve precisely the opposite of their intended aims.
On my synopsis handout, I included this:
• This book at a glance:
|
The Three Elements Of Motivation 3.0 |
What This Might Mean/ Might Look Like |
| Autonomy: a renaissance of self-direction | “ROWE” – Results Only Work Environment – everyone is/has to be/wants to be a self-starting, self-directing person |
| Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters (only engagement leads to mastery) (to learn, to create, to better the world) | Individuals always keep learning. With deliberate practice. (the 10,000 hour rule, with deliberate practice — deep, deepening abilities) |
| Purpose: very simply, doing something that matters because it should matter; something done in the service of something larger than ourselves | Either have a product/service that matters; or, provide “work time” to do something that matters… |
And Mr. Pink includes this “warning” about the dangers of “Carrots and Sticks.”
• Carrots and Sticks — The Seven Deadly Flaws:
1) They can extinguish intrinsic motivation.
2) They can diminish performance.
3) They can crush creativity.
4) They can crowd out good behavior.
5) They can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior.
6) They can become addictive.
7) They can foster short-term thinking.
I think we will always have some people, and some jobs, where extrinsic motivation is essential. But I think there are other folks who work out of a deep sense of internal/intrinsic motivation. And Daniel Pink argues that only this kind of motivation, coming from within, will produce the energy and passion needed to make the creative breakthroughs we need.
Recently, I thought about how much I disliked “grades” and “assignments” in my school days. Yet, here I am today, reading more than any school ever assigned, longing to learn more. Why? I don’t know – it does seem to come from within. (And, I have found a way to “make a living” out of my love of learning).
I think Daniel Pink is right. Intrinsic motivation is the best, the longest-lasting motivation. Though I knew the “word” “intrinsic,” this book gave me a deeper understanding of the what and the why. I think this book is worth some careful attention.
First Friday Book Synopsis 