The Candle Problem and the Puzzle of Motivation
Hailey Bird - April 6, 2016
Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think.
We need a whole new approach. The good news is that the scientists who have been studying motivation have given us this new approach. It's an approach built much more around intrinsic motivation, around the desire to do things because they matter, because we like it, because they're interesting, because we're part of something important.
And to my mind that new operating system for our businesses revolves around three elements:
- Autonomy — the urge to direct our own lives
- Mastery — the desire to get better and better at something that matters
— Dan Pink
- Purpose — the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves
First seen on the Complex Theory Twitter feed — thanks!
