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Daniel H. Pink

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

by Daniel H. Pink (Author)

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The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home—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 life. He examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Riverhead Books
Publication date

April 5, 2011
Dimensions

6 x 0.62 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1594484805
ISBN-13

978-1594484803
Lexile measure

1140L
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Popular Highlights in this book

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The best use of money as a motivator is to pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table.
9,137 Kindle readers highlighted this
The essential requirement: Any extrinsic reward should be unexpected and offered only after the task is complete.
5,599 Kindle readers highlighted this
Routine, not-so-interesting jobs require direction; nonroutine, more interesting work depends on self-direction.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Pink makes a convincing case that organizations ignore intrinsic motivation at their peril."
-Scientific American

"Persuasive . . .Harnessing the power of intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic remuneration can be thoroughly satisfying and infinitely more rewarding."
-Miami Herald

"These lessons are worth repeating, and if more companies feel emboldened to follow Mr. Pink's advice, then so much the better."
-Wall Street Journal

"Pink is rapidly acquiring international guru status . . . He is an engaging writer, who challenges and provokes."
-Financial Times

"Pink's ideas deserve a wide hearing. Corporate boards, in fact, could do well by kicking out their pay consultants for an hour and reading Pink's conclusions instead."
-Forbes

"Pink's deft traversal of research at the intersection of psychology and economics make this a worthwhile read-no sticks necessary."
-SEED

"[Pink] continues his engaging exploration of how we work."
-Inc. Magazine

"Pink's a gifted writer who turns even the heaviest scientific study into something digestible-and often amusing-without losing his intellectual punch."
-New York Post

"A worthwhile read. It reminds us that those of us on the right side of the brain are driven furthest and fastest in pursuit of what we love."
-Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Pink's analysis--and new model--of motivation offers tremendous insight into our deepest nature."
-Publishers Weekly

"Important reading...an integral addition to a growing body of literature that argues for a radical shift in how businesses operate."
-Kirkus

"Drive is the rare book that will get you to think and inspire you to act. Pink makes a strong, science-based case for rethinking motivation--and then provides the tools you need to transform your life."
-Dr. Mehmet Oz, co-author of YOU: The Owners Manual

About the Author

Daniel H. Pink is the author of four provocative books -- including the long-running New York Times bestseller, A Whole New Mind, and the #1 New York Time bestseller, Drive. His books have been translated into 33 languages.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION
The Puzzling Puzzles ofHarry Harlow and Edward Deci

In the middle of the last century, two young scientists conductedexperiments that should have changed the world— but did not.Harry F. Harlow was a professor of psychology at the Universityof Wisconsin who, in the 1940s, established one of the world’s firstlaboratories for studying primate behavior. One day in 1949, Harlowand two colleagues gathered eight rhesus monkeys for a two- weekexperiment on learning. The researchers devised a simple mechanicalpuzzle like the one pictured on the next page. Solving it requiredthree steps: pull out the vertical pin, undo the hook, and lift thehinged cover. Pretty easy for you and me, far more challenging for athirteen- pound lab monkey.

Harlow’s puzzle in the starting (left) and solved (right) positions.

The experimenters placed the puzzles in the monkeys’ cages toobserve how they reacted— and to prepare them for tests of theirproblem- solving prowess at the end of the two weeks. But almostimmediately, something strange happened. Unbidden by any outsideurging and unprompted by the experimenters, the monkeys beganplaying with the puzzles with focus, determination, and what lookedlike enjoyment. And in short order, they began figuring out how thecontraptions worked. By the time Harlow tested the monkeys ondays 13 and 14 of the experiment, the primates had become quiteadept. They solved the puzzles frequently and quickly; two- thirds ofthe time they cracked the code in less than sixty seconds.

Now, this was a bit odd. Nobody had taught the monkeys howto remove the pin, slide the hook, and open the cover. Nobody hadrewarded them with food, affection, or even quiet applause whenthey succeeded. And that ran counter to the accepted notions of howprimates— including the bigger- brained, less hairy primates knownas human beings— behaved.

Scientists then knew that two main drives powered behavior. Thefirst was the biological drive. Humans and other animals ate to satetheir hunger, drank to quench their thirst, and copulated to satisfytheir carnal urges. But that wasn’t happening here. “Solution did notlead to food, water, or sex gratification,” Harlow reported.1But the only other known drive also failed to explain the monkeys’peculiar behavior. If biological motivations came from within,this second drive came from without— the rewards and punishmentsthe environment delivered for behaving in certain ways. This wascertainly true for humans, who responded exquisitely to such externalforces. If you promised to raise our pay, we’d work harder. If youheld out the prospect of getting an A on the test, we’d study longer.If you threatened to dock us for showing up late or for incorrectlycompleting a form, we’d arrive on time and tick every box. But thatdidn’t account for the monkeys’ actions either. As Harlow wrote, andyou can almost hear him scratching his head, “The behavior obtainedin this investigation poses some interesting questions for motivationtheory, since significant learning was attained and efficient performancemaintained without resort to special or extrinsic incentives.”What else could it be?

To answer the question, Harlow offered a novel theory— whatamounted to a third drive: “The performance of the task,” he said,“provided intrinsic reward.” The monkeys solved the puzzles simplybecause they found it gratifying to solve puzzles. They enjoyed it.The joy of the task was its own reward.

If this notion was radical, what happened next only deepened theconfusion and controversy. Perhaps this newly discovered drive—Harlow eventually called it “intrinsic motivation”— was real. Butsurely it was subordinate to the other two drives. If the monkeyswere rewarded— with raisins!— for solving the puzzles, they’d nodoubt perform even better. Yet when Harlow tested that approach,the monkeys actually made more errors and solved the puzzles lessfrequently. “Introduction of food in the present experiment,” Harlowwrote, “served to disrupt performance, a phenomenon not reportedin the literature.”

Now, this was really odd. In scientific terms, it was akin to rollinga steel ball down an inclined plane to measure its velocity—only to watch the ball fl oat into the air instead. It suggested thatour understanding of the gravitational pulls on our behavior wasinadequate— that what we thought were fixed laws had plenty ofloopholes. Harlow emphasized the “strength and persistence” of themonkeys’ drive to complete the puzzles. Then he noted:It would appear that this drive . . . may be as basic and strongas the [other] drives. Furthermore, there is some reason tobelieve that [it] can be as efficient in facilitating learning.2

At the time, however, the prevailing two drives held a tight grip onscientific thinking. So Harlow sounded the alarm. He urged scientiststo “close down large sections of our theoretical junkyard” andoffer fresher, more accurate accounts of human behavior.3 He warnedthat our explanation of why we did what we did was incomplete. Hesaid that to truly understand the human condition, we had to takeaccount of this third drive.

Then he pretty much dropped the whole idea.Rather than battle the establishment and begin offering a morecomplete view of motivation, Harlow abandoned this contentiousline of research and later became famous for studies on the scienceof affection.4 His notion of this third drive bounced around the psychologicalliterature, but it remained on the periphery— of behavioralscience and of our understanding of ourselves. It would be twodecades before another scientist picked up the thread that Harlowhad so provocatively left on that Wisconsin laboratory table.In the summer of 1969, Edward Deci was a Carnegie Mellon Universitypsychology graduate student in search of a dissertation topic.Deci, who had already earned an MBA from Wharton, was intriguedby motivation but suspected that scholars and businesspeople hadmisunderstood it. So, tearing a page from the Harlow playbook, heset out to study the topic with the help of a puzzle.

Deci chose the Soma puzzle cube, a then popular Parker Brothersoffering that, thanks to YouTube, retains something of a cultfollowing today. The puzzle, shown below, consists of seven plasticpieces— six comprising four one- inch cubes, one comprising threeone- inch cubes. Players can assemble the seven pieces into a few millionpossible combinations— from abstract shapes to recognizableobjects.

The seven pieces of the Soma puzzle unassembled (left) and then fashioned into one ofseveral million possible configurations

For the study, Deci divided participants, male and female universitystudents, into an experimental group (what I’ll call GroupA) and a control group (what I’ll call Group B). Each participated inthree one- hour sessions held on consecutive days.

Here’s how the sessions worked: Each participant entered a roomand sat at a table on top of which were the seven Soma puzzle pieces,drawings of three puzzle configurations, and copies of Time, The NewYorker, and Playboy. (Hey, it was 1969.) Deci sat on the opposite endof the table to explain the instructions and to time performance witha stopwatch.

In the first session, members of both groups had to assemble theSoma pieces to replicate the configurations before them. In the secondsession, they did the same thing with different drawings— onlythis time Deci told Group A that they’d be paid $1 (the equivalentof nearly $6 today) for every configuration they successfully reproduced.Group B, meanwhile, got new drawings but no pay. Finally,in the third session, both groups received new drawings and had toreproduce them for no compensation, just as in session one. (See thetable below.)

The twist came midway through each session. After a participanthad assembled the Soma puzzle pieces to match two of the threedrawings, Deci halted the proceedings. He said that he was going togive them a fourth drawing—but to choose the right one, he neededto feed their completion times into a computer. And— this being thelate 1960s, when room- straddling mainframes were the norm anddesktop PCs were still a decade away— that meant he had to leavefor a little while.

On the way out, he said, “I shall be gone only a few minutes, youmay do whatever you like while I’m gone.” But Deci wasn’t reallyplugging numbers into an ancient teletype. Instead, he walked toan adjoining room connected to the experiment room by a one- waywindow. Then, for exactly eight minutes, he watched what peopledid when left alone. Did they continue fiddling with the puzzle,perhaps attempting to reproduce the third drawing? Or did they dosomething else— page through the magazines, check out the centerfold,stare into space, catch a quick nap?

In the first session, not surprisingly, there wasn’t much differencebetween what the Group A and Group B participants did duringthat secretly watched eight- minute free- choice period. Both continuedplaying with the puzzle, on average, for between three and ahalf and four minutes, suggesting they found it at least somewhatinteresting.

On the second day, during which Group A participants were paidfor each successful configuration and Group B participants were not, theunpaid group behaved mostly as they had during the first free- choiceperiod. But the paid group suddenly got really interested in Soma puzzles.On average, the people in Group A spent more than five minutesmessing with the puzzle, perhaps getting a head start on that thirdchallenge or gearing up for the chance to earn some beer money whenDeci returned. This makes intuitive sense, right? It’s consistent withwhat we believe about motivation: Reward me and I’ll work harder.Yet what happened on the third day confirmed Deci’s own suspicionsabout the peculiar workings of motivation— and gently calledinto question a guiding premise of modern life. This time, Deci toldthe participants in Group A that there was only enough money topay them for one day and that this third session would therefore beunpaid. Then things unfolded just as before— two puzzles, followedby Deci’s interruption.

During the ensuing eight- minute free- choice period, the subjectsin the never- been- paid Group B actually played with the puzzlefor a little longer than they had in previous sessions. Maybe theywere becoming ever more engaged; maybe it was just a statisticalquirk. But the subjects in Group A, who previously had been paid,responded differently. They now spent significantly less time playingwith the puzzle— not only about two minutes less than duringtheir paid session, but about a full minute less than in the firstsession when they initially encountered, and obviously enjoyed, thepuzzles.

In an echo of what Harlow discovered two decades earlier, Decirevealed that human motivation seemed to operate by laws that rancounter to what most scientists and citizens believed. From the officeto the playing field, we knew what got people going. Rewards—especially cold, hard cash— intensified interest and enhanced performance.What Deci found, and then confirmed in two additionalstudies he conducted shortly thereafter, was almost the opposite.“When money is used as an external reward for some activity, thesubjects lose intrinsic interest for the activity,” he wrote.5 Rewardscan deliver a short- term boost— just as a jolt of caffeine can keepyou cranking for a few more hours. But the effect wears off— and,worse, can reduce a person’s longer- term motivation to continue theproject.

Human beings, Deci said, have an “inherent tendency to seekout novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise their capacities,to explore, and to learn.” But this third drive was more fragile thanthe other two; it needed the right environment to survive. “Onewho is interested in developing and enhancing intrinsic motivationin children, employees, students, etc., should not concentrate onexternal- control systems such as monetary rewards,” he wrote in afollow- up paper.6 Thus began what for Deci became a lifelong questto rethink why we do what we do— a pursuit that sometimes puthim at odds with fellow psychologists, got him fired from a businessschool, and challenged the operating assumptions of organizationseverywhere.

“It was controversial,” Deci told me one spring morning fortyyears after the Soma experiments. “Nobody was expecting rewardswould have a negative effect.”

This is a book about motivation. I will show that much of whatwe believe about the subject just isn’t so— and that the insights thatHarlow and Deci began uncovering a few decades ago come muchcloser to the truth. The problem is that most businesses haven’tcaught up to this new understanding of what motivates us. Too manyorganizations— not just companies, but governments and nonprofitsas well— still operate from assumptions about human potential andindividual performance that are outdated, unexamined, and rootedmore in folklore than in science. They continue to pursue practicessuch as short- term incentive plans and pay- for- performance schemesin the face of mounting evidence that such measures usually don’twork and often do harm. Worse, these practices have infiltrated ourschools, where we ply our future workforce with iPods, cash, andpizza coupons to “incentivize” them to learn. Something has gonewrong.

The good news is that the solution stands before us— in thework of a band of behavioral scientists who have carried on the pioneeringefforts of Harlow and Deci and whose quiet work over thelast half- century offers us a more dynamic view of human motivation.For too long, there’s been a mismatch between what scienceknows and what business does. The goal of this book is to repair thatbreach.

Drive has three parts. Part One will look at the fl aws in ourreward- and- punishment system and propose a new way to thinkabout motivation. Chapter 1 will examine how the prevailing viewof motivation is becoming incompatible with many aspects of contemporarybusiness and life. Chapter 2 will reveal the seven reasonswhy carrot- and- stick extrinsic motivators often produce theopposite of what they set out to achieve. (Following that is a shortaddendum, Chapter 2a, that shows the special circumstances whencarrots and sticks actually can be effective.) Chapter 3 will introducewhat I call “Type I” behavior, a way of thinking and an approach tobusiness grounded in the real science of human motivation and poweredby our third drive— our innate need to direct our own lives, tolearn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and ourworld.

Part Two will examine the three elements of Type I behavior andshow how individuals and organizations are using them to improveperformance and deepen satisfaction. Chapter 4 will explore autonomy,our desire to be self- directed. Chapter 5 will look at mastery,our urge to get better and better at what we do. Chapter 6 willexplore purpose, our yearning to be part of something larger thanourselves.

Part Three, the Type I Toolkit, is a comprehensive set of resourcesto help you create settings in which Type I behavior can fl ourish.Here you’ll find everything from dozens of exercises to awakenmotivation in yourself and others, to discussion questions for yourbook club, to a supershort summary of Drive that will help youfake your way through a cocktail party. And while this book ismostly about business, in this section I’ll offer some thoughts abouthow to apply these concepts to education and to our lives outside ofwork.

But before we get down to all that, let’s begin with a thoughtexperiment, one that requires going back in time— to the days whenJohn Major was Britain’s prime minister, Barack Obama was a skinnyyoung law professor, Internet connections were dial- up, and a blackberrywas still just a fruit.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Books (April 5, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594484805
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594484803
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1140L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.62 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Occupational & Organizational Popular Psychology
- #21 in Sales & Selling (Books)
- #129 in Business Motivation & Self-Improvement (Books)

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4,629 ratings

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Daniel H. Pink

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Daniel H. Pink is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seven books -- including his latest, THE POWER OF REGRET: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward. His books have sold millions of copies around the world, been translated into forty-two languages, and have won multiple awards. He lives with his family in Washington, DC.

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Not universally applicable

Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2018

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One of the great feats of being a small business owner -- besides being part of the backbone of America's economy -- is that one gets to spend evenings reading books and magazines about organizational management and other business topics in a continuous effort to improve one's own skills.

Or so the theory goes. Yours truly, in fact, prefers to read about philosophy and history and would consider Plato to be the best organizational guru there ever was. Preferred self-help works include Dante's "Divine Comedy" and Boethius' "Consolation of Philosophy". But occasionally, nudged by the missus, I'll open up one of the works on her growing list of recommendations and start reading.

So it happened that I bumped into "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Daniel Pink. In this book the author argues that how the vast majority of companies are motivating their workers "extrinsically" is completely outdated in our modern economy: "They continue to pursue practices such as short-term incentive plans and pay-for-performance schemes in the face of mounting evidence that such measures usually don’t work and often do harm." These monetary rewards, Pink writes, "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." In today's world, the author argues, folks are motivated intrinsically. You leave them to their own devices, don't burden them with sticks and carrots, and the creativity will start flowing like the Mississipi River.

This book is certainly interesting. The author puts forth a straightforward argument and provides ample research to back up his thesis, some of it eye-opening. Who would guess that young children are more motivated to produce a drawing if they are not expecting a reward after the fact? In another example, "researchers at Cornell University studied 320 small businesses, half of which granted workers autonomy, the other half relying on top-down direction. The businesses that offered autonomy grew at four times the rate of the control-oriented firms and had one-third the turnover."

It all sounds solid enough, though the question arises which companies are being investigated here. Are these Cornell researchers comparing start-ups run by fresh college grads in Silicon Valley to the McDonald's in Pleasant Hill, Iowa? Or are we talking about similar industries in order to level the playing field? As mentioned above, this reviewer owns a small business himself -- though not of the glamorous kind -- and gets the sense that Pink's head exists in a bubble of Facebook, Apple, Uber and other innovative tech giants. His examples of companies motivating their employees the 'correct' way -- Atlassian (software), 3M, Netflix, Zappos.com, JetBlue, Facebook and more such companies -- suggest as much. Pink has little to say about the unmotivated piece of work fixing your sub over at the gas station, or about the housekeeper cleaning your hotel room at the La Quinta during your April Florida vacation.

The author himself would deny this, of course, and in his defense, he does briefly address the issue of non-creative repetitive labor: "Whether you’re fixing sinks, ringing up groceries, selling cars, or writing a lesson plan, you and I need autonomy just as deeply as a great painter." But, he continues, the majority of us will at first struggle when thrown into the deep waters of "undiluted autonomy", and hence "Organizations must provide ... 'scaffolding' to help every employee find his footing to make the transition." Fair enough, but what does this "scaffolding" entail in a practical sense? It doesn't become very clear from proceeding through Pink's pages.

Next follow some Rousseauian observations about human nature that the grand master of philosophical folly could himself have whipped up: "We're designed to be Type I [motivated by intrinsic desires]. But outside forces -- including the very idea that we need to be 'managed' -- have conspired to change our default setting and turn us into Type X [motivated by extrinsic desires]. If we update the environments we're in -- not only at work, but also at school and at home -- and if leaders recognize both the truth of the human condition and the science that supports it, we can return ourselves and our colleagues to our natural state." And, quoting a researcher on the topic: "The course of human history has always moved in the direction of greater freedom. And there's a reason for that -- because it's in our nature to push for it."

I'm sorry, but human history is not moving unstoppably towards greater freedom any more than I, employer, am suppressing my workers' creative nature by setting deadlines and doling out incentives. What is happening here is that we in the West have arrived at an utter anomaly in human history in which the battle for basic subsistence has been won (for now) and that we are at liberty to enjoy the unprecedented luxuries brought forth by science, technology and the arts. It is certainly true that these fields are driven forward by man's intrinsic curiosity and desire to create new things, and the fact that they have thrust our civilization -- if not humanity at large -- to great heights should instill an enormous dose of gratitude and humility in us.

But back down on Earth, real goods still need to be produced, not just dreamed up by hipster types: Oil and gas need to be pumped to the surface, corn and wheat have to be harvested, cars need to be assembled, hotel rooms need to be cleaned, restaurant meals have to be cooked, and homes need to be built. Much of the production of these goods revolves around basic, repetitive tasks and invokes a certain level of dread and boredom. From my personal experience, the majority of workers involved want to work just enough hours for their paycheck to hold them over to the next one (and who can blame them?). The successful completion of their tasks is contingent upon a supervisor setting clear expectations, checking for quality of work after the fact, and showing gratitude for good behavior by continuing the employment relationship and handing out a nice paycheck.

None of this is to say that “Drive” isn't worth your valuable time. As with many such works, one takes a few good ideas and runs with them. While I can't afford to allow my employees to spend twenty percent of their time brainstorming about new products or process improvements, there's nothing stopping me from empowering them to have a say in how things are done in my company. So how about coming together for a half-day plenary session every three months and allow the staff to blurt out any idea that might have popped up in their head? I might just give it a try.

With all this in mind, I would recommend this book to certain types of readers, such as consultants, employers or the budding and dreaming entrepreneur. Just don't expect to be blown away by every word you're reading.

380 people found this helpful

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Voracious Book Seller

Misleading Ad, Low on Content

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2019

Verified Purchase

Give people control over their own tasks, and they will enjoy and do them well.

There. I just saved you $10.

I was furious reading this book and feel utterly cheated.

Of 270 some odd pages, only 140 are the actual book. The rest are discussion questions, summaries of other books, a lengthy sample of another book, etc.

Even the content on the first 140 is drawn out and ridiculous. (The author’s imagined thought process: Blackberries are sooo corporate; here’s a funny joke about them! Motivational systems are like computer operating system! Look how hip and up to date I am!).

I was hoping for information about how to motivate myself, but the book is focused toward managers and business.

87 people found this helpful

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Jennifer W.

Disappointing.

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

I gotta be honest, I expected more from this book, especially with all the reviews. In a nutshell, it tells you that people are driven by the need for fulfillment. It makes a valid point that we want to feel important at our job and in our life, but the rest of it is just fluff. I also found it a boring and dry read.
I read "It's Okay to be the Boss" after this book and found it to be IMMENSELY better and effective (I've been practicing the teachings of "It's Okay to be the Boss" for a couple weeks now and have already seen many positive effects.) In terms of readability and effectiveness, I'd recommend "It's Okay to be the Boss" over this one 1000 times. (100% not a paid review btw. Honest opinion.)

113 people found this helpful

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Steven Woloszyk

Time to Upgrade the OS to Motivation 3.0!

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

Daniel Pink gives us the low-down on motivation and the contrast between what business believes to work and what science proves works.

Pink breaks down motivation into different versions. Motivation 1.0 is our basic need of survival. It's the simplest level of motivation and there isn't much time spent on this topic.

Motivation 2.0 is what Pink believes to be an outdated model. This is what is referred to as "carrots and sticks." We use these tools to encourage or reinforce positive behaviors and to curb behaviors we want to eliminate.

Pink shows, through research and studies, that adding monetary incentives does not inspire us like many have believed. It only serves as a temporary boost but winds up fading fast.

Instead, Pink believes we need to move to Motivation 3.0. This is where we are inspired by internal drivers rather than external factors.

There are three main themes to 3.0 with autonomy, mastery and purpose. These are the driving factors that need to be fostered in order to motivate us. Companies employing ROWE, results-only work environments, have shown statistically that Motivation 3.0 works.

Pink weaves in his book the findings of other noted authors and books in this same line of study like Dweck's Mindset, Csikszentmihalyi's Flow, Duckworth's work on Grit, along with work by Deci, Deming, Drucker, Kahneman, Gladwell, Godin, and many others.

This book receives a 4.4 rating on Amazon after 1,039 reviews. Goodreads gives this one a 3.95 after 60,238 ratings and 3,131 reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it.

#FridaysFind #MIAGD #DanielPink #Drive

57 people found this helpful

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The Fair Critic

Self-improvment book that ask the question "what drives people?"

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

Drive was an interesting read, definitely a 'Leadership' / 'self-improvement' type book. However, it did become repetitive and it lost my attention about half way through. I would consider this an airport book - something you pick up to read because you are bored, but not a must have or a re-read book. You aren't going to walk away from this book with any new TRUTHs.

Hope this review was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions!

25 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Sandy Morley

The only surprise is that anyone's surprised

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2018

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I'm worried about this book. Rather, I'm worried about the need for this book. How is it that anyone alive is "surprised" that people do things for the sake of doing things, when damn near everyone alive has spent their whole lives doing just that?

Sadly that is the entirety of his insight, and Pink talks around it (and around and around it) without ever getting anywhere else.

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Nick Michelioudakis

A Review - for Educators

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2016

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Pink sets out to demolish long-held beliefs such as that people are only motivated by extrinsic factors and he does so with gusto. While primarily focusing on the business world, most of the things he says apply directly to education as well.
Pink starts by making a useful distinction between ‘algorithmic’ and ‘heuristic’ tasks (p. 29). The former are ones which you perform by following a series of pre-determined steps, while the latter require a more creative approach. Crucially, the latter are far more motivating! In our field this would translate into a distinction between, say, the standard transformation exercise and an activity like improvising and recording a monologue. The big Q for us is: what is the ratio between these two types of activities in our classroom?
Later on, Pink draws on Csikszentmihalyi’s insights on ‘Flow’ (p. 115). Csikszentmihalyi’s research showed that most tasks where people achieved ‘Flow’ shared three key elements: a) there were clear goals, b) there was immediate feedback and c) the task difficulty level was perfectly pitched – slightly higher than the performer’s current level. The implications for task design here are obvious...
In discussing ‘extrinsic’ vs ‘intrinsic’ motivation, Pink points out that there is often a trade-off; extrinsic factors may work best in the short-term, but in the long run intrinsic motivation is always the winner! (p. 79) Back to ELT, exam classes illustrate this perfectly: granted, both parents and students often clamour for more exam-oriented material as there is always a test round the corner, but in the long run this is disastrous (I have yet to meet students who do CPE tests for fun after getting their certificate...)
Motivation leads to ‘autonomy’ and this is where things get really exciting! On p. 86 we are introduced to the concept of ROWE (‘Results-Only Work Environment’). The idea is simple: your employer does not care how or when you do something, so long as you deliver the goods! Now imagine ROSE instead! Imagine a school where classes are not compulsory, where students are more autonomous and they have to actually generate something as evidence of learning (rather than sit endless tests). This is not a dream; the IB model has taken many steps in that direction...
Then on p. 93 we go one step further still! Atlasian is a software company where once a week employees can do anything they want!! At the end of the day, employees just show what they have come up with. Now, can you imagine a school where once a week you can work on any project you want? Imagine being paid to design your favourite activities, to incorporate novel IT-based task in the syllabus or prepare worksheets for ‘Comedy for ELT’ sketches? Sheer bliss! :-)

29 people found this helpful

md

Not just for work

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2017

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I was recommended to read this book, at the time I thought, to help me work out how to grow my business. I now realise that it was to help me figure out why I’d even want to do that. Sure I’ve got some ideas about what I’ll be pushing for over the next couple of years, but I also found out something way more important. We’re missing a huge opportunity to help our kids grow up into truly useful people, teaching them to jump through hoops with grades, and exams, even spending money, and chores. There’s so much more to go at, and they have that knowledge built in. Definitely a book that has helped me to reboot what I’m doing at work and home, with a load of good positive things that anyone can put into action.

18 people found this helpful

Sue Reid

Great Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2021

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I don’t often review the books I read, but with ‘Drive’ I felt I had to. Having worked in the ‘carrot and stick’ environment in my career, I can now see why I was never driven by monetary reward. I am definitely what Pink calls a ‘Type I’ person. Although I am retired now, I feel this book has made me a potentially better person as I have written myself a list of areas I want to master in my life.
I recommend this book to anyone wanting more purpose in their life, but also and especially organisational leaders who are looking for more engagement from their employees.

One person found this helpful

kat j

Great little book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 12, 2018

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Great little book. Gave some really interesting insights which really challenge the traditional mindset of how to manage/lead. Has been really useful in the workplace to confront leaders as to how to develop and work with their team. Has helped change the dialogue in the organisation and has sparked conversations that would otherwise never have taken place. I think it will support our shift towards a different type of business. Some great suggestions of how to action the material meaning it has real applicability. Have recommended to many. Buy it.

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