Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us Paperback – April 5, 2011

I think the notion of motivation 2.0 is well known to be of the past and if you do not believe it, I think it is good to pick up this book and read for yourself the examples and experts opinions.

I love that scientists would develop tests to determine what motivates us, from primates to American workers, and juxtapose that with what American businesses (many billion dollar, S&P 500 companies) thinks we want in our work environment. Believe me, it's miles and cities apart.
I will not get political, but some people in Washington might learn a few things about human behavior, and how some of our government programs effect the populace, if they would only read this book. Based on the completely viable facts in this book, much of what our government thinks is helping Americans is, actually, hurting them.
That aside, if you run a sales organization, take a look at how you manage your team. Are you managing the people or are you managing the work that needs to be done?
Big difference is what you do and the results you get.

Daniel Pink argues; and based on his impressive evidence, rightly so, that motivating people through the use of "carrots and sticks" or rewards and punishment, doesn't work. What we need to be motivated is autonomy, mastery and purpose (which make up what he calls "Motivation 3.0"). An interesting argument and one worth noting in our personal and professional lives if we need to motivate ourselves or those around us.

My three main take-aways:

Point #1: Pink argues there is a disconnect between what science is learning and what business is doing when it comes to motivation. Business still believes in Motivation 2.0 - Carrots to reward behavior and Sticks to punish it. Science meanwhile is figuring out that what we really need is autonomy, mastery and purpose to to be motivated and fulfill our potential. Pink's examples of "FedEx Days" (autonomy), his 3 Laws of Mastery - mastery is a mindset, mastery is pain and mastery is the oxygen of the soul - combined with how and why "intrinsic aspirations" (purpose) lead to the good life; combine to paint a clear picture of why motivation can and should come from within us all and not from the outside.

Point #2: While readily admitting that his "Type I" and "Type X" classifications "sacrifice a certain amount of nuance," they are useful in giving the reader a simple system to not only remember the book as a whole, but also to add to their personal and professional change toolbox. Pink begins with Friedman and Rosenman's "Type A" and "Type B" behavioral patterns, which most people probably already know. Next he covers Douglas McGregor's "Theory X" and "Theory Y" classifications from the seminal work "The Human Side of Enterprise" Using these antecedents, Pink introduces us to "Type I" as people motivated by intrinsic desires, while as you would expect "Type X" are people motivated by extrinsic rewards. The construct is helpful to me because in it's simplicity is the powerful notion that taking the time to designate co-workers, bosses, family members or friends into one of the two categories allows me to better comprehend their motivations (or even my own) and use that knowledge to help leverage positive outcomes.

Point #3: The "Type I Toolkit" near the back of the book is chock full of advice for individuals looking for insight into motivation as well as organizations trying to find innovative ways to motivate their teams. It also includes a reading list that informs much of what Mr. Pink discussed earlier in the book and a quick bio on "Seven Business Thinkers Who Get It." This section of the book provides a unique service to the reader that other writers would be well served to copy. Like most books in this genre the insights and advice are only as good as the people willing to do something with them. And in this case Mr. Pink has made that first step that much easier by providing this useful and integrated toolkit.

This is a book well worth your time and with motivation being a huge component of our everyday personal and professional lives it should be on the shelf of anyone looking to find that motivation for positive change.

I completely agree with most of the information presented in this book. It should be an obligatory reading for all company executives and anyone wishing to lead or use the work of others.
The reason for giving 4 stars is that in my opinion, the author should have spent some time explaining or giving some examples, on how the "autonomy" principle can work with the employees who do not have the type of education and knowledge to be able to work completely independently, and 'own' their ideas. For example, an engineer or a scientist may develop a creative idea on how to build a new product or a technology. He needs to pass this onto people who are his technical assistants, to help put the devised model into practice. I cannot imagine how you can give a technician a map or a scientific protocol, and then tell him "this is just an outline, but feel free to experiment and come up with idea on your own on how to do it". This can work only with highly trained and/or educated people, who you can fully trust will be able to deal with the task. But having someone less experienced and qualified, play around and learn by making mistakes, while you are waiting for the results (and have other people on board who can do it faster), is probably not the best option for the companies with a competitive business strategy. Maybe the answer is in matching task level and the autonomy level with the work experience, education and the right talent? Maybe this should be the material for the Pink's next book.

As a creative person in both my professional and personal activities I can relate to the Daniel Pink’s descriptions of what works and what fails to motivate. As a manager of creative software developers I saw firsthand how monetary incentives created more dissatisfaction to the intended recipient and more work and gaming for those who manage the process.

As an amateur portrait painter in my personal time I found that non-commissioned works are much more enjoyable and of higher quality. Being free to paint without conforming to specifications detailed by a customer allow me to experience a loss of time and as Pink refers to it ‘a state of flow’ that is not experienced so deeply on other works.

For someone looking to better understand motivation this is a good primer and as the author so willingly shares, there is a robust list of other experts that have published on the topic of motivation. If you are a leader, manager, team member or an entrepreneur, Drive is a good read and a great reference on which to build your knowledge base.