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

Daniel Pink researched what motivates people. His findings are that people must be paid well and be able to take care of their needs and their family's needs, yet after that, money is not a big motivator and can actually be a detractor.

Pink demonstrates that the keys are:
* Intrinsic Motivation (discussed the book "Flow" frequently)
* Ability to be creative in aspects of work
* Long-term thinking vs. Short-term thinking
* Not setting performance goals (setting goals means people set easier, attainable goals)

It is an easy read; the reason for not 5 stars is that the book could use more substance and more how to implement in the workplace or even in one's own life. Maybe that's the next step.

Once upon a time there was large mass of people that looked up to their "strong and firm" leaders who copied their methods from leading military organizations. Then one day people realized that actually those long time cherished methods were not very effective any more. Not in a new world, where creativity and internal motivation rules. Because of that, a wealth of convincing scientific studies was needed to back up the unorthodox new ways. Because of that, new generation of bold and motivating leaders started to emerge. Until finally everyone will be coached to utilize their internal strengths and find childlike happiness at place of work.

Yes, very important book. Although, when compared to Pinks "To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others" this books lacks some polish and final touch. But even in the rough form - I certainly recommend it.

In this book Daniel Pink describes some very interesting research on motivation showing that extrinsic motivators (rewards given for doing something I want you to do) definitely influence human behavior--but they often drive a different response than was intended. In particular, people tend to lose all personal interest and do only what leads to the reward, even when that means contorting the real goal. (He calls this Type X motivation.) He then goes on to show how intrinsic motivation (Type I) is the only driver that consistently produces the highest performance, adaptation, and particularly innovation. Of course, this has been known to scientists for decades (which Pink points out), but it is still almost entirely ignored when it comes to businesses setting up their internal incentive structures. The recent destructive behavior by the banking system, clearly very smart people, is a reflection of the distorting power of Type X motivation.

Pink does a good job of presenting and linking a lot of different studies and examples to make a strong case. Unlike his other book "A Whole New Mind," Pink goes beyond making the case and includes a number of chapters intended to help one master intrinsic motivation or Type I motivation. I found this material also very useful, particularly to the extent it cites additional reading, consultants, etc. that provide more on the topic. This part of the book is also very well done. Frankly, I still get the feeling that Pink is the outside observer who is assembling and summarizing all this work done by others rather than one who has really experienced the trials and nuances of making it happen. Nevertheless, the book is one of the best works I have seen that brings all the research and examples together in a coherent fashion to make a strong case. In today's economy, where innovation is the only sustainable differentiator, business leaders who want to stimulate innovation within their organizations will be well advised to pay attention to this book and its message.

I have been trying to motivate employees to excel for years and this book has changed the way I think about motivation completely. Wish I had this when I was raising my kids. The book is very insightful. I bought several copies and gave them to my friends and family.

Carrots and sticks are so 20th century. We need to understand the drive to thrive in the 21st century. That's my twitter summary of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink.

Summary
There is a great disconnect between what we practice in business - and I will add, in life - and what science is telling us in the area of motivation. The current model of motivation is carrots or sticks, money or termination. If-then rewards actually extinguish intrinsic motivation and diminish performance, crush creativity, and reduce good behavior. They also motivate people into behavior we do not want to see happen: unethical behavior, additions, and short-term thinking.

While carrots and sticks are not the best motivators, they are not all bad, however. They can be effective for rule-based routine tasks that are not very interesting and do not demand much creative thinking, though their motivation is minimal.

Science, however, shows us that we need to upgrade our operating system to motivation 3.0.

The new OS has three essential elements: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Autonomy "involves behaving with a full sense of volition and choice." Motivation is different from independence. It is not the go-it-alone individualism of the American West. It means acting with a choice, meaning we can be both autonomous and happily interdependent with others. And more importantly, this is a human concept, not a Western one.

Autonomy has a powerful effect on performance. It promotes great conceptual understanding, better grades, enhanced persistence at school and in sporting activities, higher productivity, less burnout, and greater levels of psychological well-being. In addition, autonomous people impact the workplace. A study by Cornell University demonstrated that businesses that offered autonomy grew at four times the rate of non-autonomous businesses and had one-third the turnover.

The opposite of autonomy is control. Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement. Engagement leads to mastery, the desire to get better at something that matters. For the tasks of the 21st century, an inquiring mind and willingness to experiment to find a fresh solution is required. That means the ability to have autonomy over our tasks, techniques, team, and time. This all works to allow people to be engaged in their tasks and to master them.

Autonomous people working toward mastery perform at very high levels. But those who do so in the service of some greater objective can achieve even more. The most deeply motivated people connect their desires to a cause larger than themselves.

Thoughts
I really enjoy the writings of Daniel Pink. He assembles complicated research and makes it accessible to the masses. I appreciate how Pink makes the research in the areas of motivation easy for those who are not scientists to understand. In fact, in Drive, he does a magnificent job.

Much of the background for this book comes from the research of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian psychology professor, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 22. Now at Claremont Graduate University, he is the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College. He is noted for his work in the study of happiness and creativity, but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow and for his years of research and writing on the topic. He is the author of many books and over 120 articles or book chapters. Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, described Csikszentmihalyi as the world's leading researcher on positive psychology.

I do a lot of church planter assessments and one of the things we look for is intrinsic motivation. This allows us to see what will keep them going when things get tough. It also allows us to determine if money is a primary motivator. Drive provides us with the research behind the importance of this needed tool for church planting. And for ministry in the 21st century as well.

Drive is also a marker for entrepreneurial ministry. And entrepreneurialism in general.

The book is easy to read despite its topic. It makes good use of emerging research. But it's a very practical book as well. At the end of the book, Pink provides a toolkit. In it, he provides strategies for awakening motivation for individuals, parents, educators, and businesses. He provides a great reading list of 15 essential books to encourage and promote a healthy environment for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. He also provides a discussion guide to get the discussion started.

This is a fabulous book, and will be effective for leaders and followers alike. Whether you are a pastor, small group leader, or business person, this will help motivate those you lead and even help you understand yourself better.