Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

[Rajiv]

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

[Rajiv]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Dan Pink's talk 42 minutes

More Q&A with Dan Pink

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Dan Pink's talk 42 minutes

Good stuff, Rajiv. Thanks for posting it.

[ViC78]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Good stuff, Rajiv. Thanks for posting it.

Ditto. Thanks.

[harset]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Really good stuff.....

[Verrocchio]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Nice one, Rajiv!

Pink mentioned that research that supports his thesis that runs back 40 or 50 years. These could well be traced back 75 years ago, to the famed (in organizational theory, anyway) experiments conducted by Elton Mayo at the Hawthorne Works in Cicero, Chicago, in the late 1930s.

[Rajiv]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Nice one, Rajiv!

Pink mentioned that research that supports his thesis that runs back 40 or 50 years. These could well be traced back 75 years ago, to the famed (in organizational theory, anyway) experiments conducted by Elton Mayo at the Hawthorne Works in Cicero, Chicago, in the late 1930s.

Takes me back almost forty years when I was first introduced to them.

Here is a link to the Hawthorne Experiments - Elton Mayo's Hawthorne Experiments

[c1ue]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Cute talk, but nothing new.

There are thousands of people who work in the govenment, in the military, at home, etc etc for reasons other than money.

Certainly not all people in these organizations operate this way, but absolutely at least some do: they work for patriotism, for family, for bettering their race/class, etc etc.

The Russian who told the Fielding society to f*** off is another example.

It was, however, amusing that every single example this person put forward was software and/or tech.

Steve Jobs, the great altruist? Gimme a break.

Linux - where would it be without IBM fighting SCO?

Again, not that the conclusions are totally wrong.

But the idea that some company can become Microsoft without employing Microsoft tactics - ludicrous.

[thedrifter]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Isn't the likely reason that most people do not function well on cognitive tasks when offered high rewards because the stress overwhelms them and makes them do a worse job? Seems obvious. And those who can handle the stress do a good job and are rewarded accordingly. There are just fewer such people, and they tend to become the high level managers, CEOs, etc. . . .

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Isn't the likely reason that most people do not function well on cognitive tasks when offered high rewards because the stress overwhelms them and makes them do a worse job?

I don't think that "stress" is a good explanatory mechanism here.

Rather I think that potential very high rewards warp the incentives or motivations. Successful work on tasks benefiting from high cognitive involvement depends on some more subtle balancing of partially unspoken priorities. If the carrot of some big pay-off is dangled before one, then one will make different trade-offs, in ways that are not entirely conscious.

[Ghent12]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

I don't think that "stress" is a good explanatory mechanism here.

Rather I think that potential very high rewards warp the incentives or motivations. Successful work on tasks benefiting from high cognitive involvement depends on some more subtle balancing of partially unspoken priorities. If the carrot of some big pay-off is dangled before one, then one will make different trade-offs, in ways that are not entirely conscious.

I think "stress" may be fairly accurate in lay terms. After all, with a larger incentive offered, there is effectively more stuff riding on one's decisions than there otherwise would be. There is increased pressure on the decision-maker's decision calculus hence there is more stress.

We are effectively saying very similar things, but I think "stress" is useful and accurate in explaining what is occurring even if it lacks in explaining causality.

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

I think "stress" may be fairly accurate in lay terms. After all, with a larger incentive offered, there is effectively more stuff riding on one's decisions than there otherwise would be. There is increased pressure on the decision-maker's decision calculus hence there is more stress.

We are effectively saying very similar things, but I think "stress" is useful and accurate in explaining what is occurring even if it lacks in explaining causality.

What you describe does not fit my experience.

[Verrocchio]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Perhaps stress isn't the major factor. Consider the loss of information from the periphery, and the following lack of comprehension, processing, and creative response as the goal-driven worker focuses on the tasks that are essential in gaining the reward. Excessive focus on the foreground necessarily excludes attention to the surround.

[thedrifter]

Re: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Think test anxiety as another example -- everyone taking the SAT or LSAT or GMAT knows that doing well on such tests would help line their pocket-books in the future; but not everyone can do well (even with more preparation) because the pressure of the situation overwhelms them. We have all seen this. To me, this new study just reaffirms that some people are either (or both) better hard-wired or better conditioned to handle such stresses. And overcoming the stresses is simply harder when the tasks are more cognitive. This makes sense to me because physical activities can sometimes have a calming effect, which would allow for more success. I suspect there are many studies confirming this.