Dan Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation

Originally posted 3/5/2011

http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf

With TED 2011 now completely wrapped up, I felt motivated to peruse some of the more popular Ted Talks according to a published list of the “most popular Ted Talks.”  The very first one happened to be a topic that is close to my heart; leadership and motivation.

In the embedded video, Dan Pink discusses the differences between what science knows about motivation and what business thinks they know about business.  There is a significant break between the so-called “20th Century Incentives” (rewards, money) and what actually works with today’s workers (autonomy, mastery and purpose).

I hope to further discuss Dan’s theories in future blog posts.  I have to admit, as someone who has spent the better part of the last twelve years either in business school or working in the business world, these are things that I know, or should know.  I, too, have fallen victim to the “give them a sweeter carrot” fallacy when it turns out, that is not what motivates people.

Enjoy the video, and we will pick this back up later.

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