What inspired me to pick up this book was (one) that I happen to be on the road at the time and it was readily available at the airport bookstore, and (two) the fact that I read and liked the author’s previous work, “A Whole New Mind”. I did not expect the book about motivation to have a direct connection with my quest for creativity; yet, being familiar with Daniel Pink’s previous works, I should have expected nothing less.
Now a days, our workplace is comprised of creators and thinkers, rather than manufacturers of the 20th Century — I think we can all agree with that. Therefore, the author argues, in order to flourish we must have a different approach to managing the creative talent. I myself have worked a couple of jobs where instead of embracing my talents and skills, my manager would focus on micro-managing my work rather than results. Needless to say, I have moved on from those unhealthy environments as fast as I could. During the time I was there, however, I observed a transformation of new employees who were passionate about what they do, and who were excited to apply their skills, into apathetic workers who lacked motivation in a matter of months. Needless to say, this book hit a familiar cord.
The author compares the current approaches to what motivates us (mostly in the work environment) and the techniques used by companies to motivate the employees. In fact, what Daniel Pink argues is that the techniques are out of date and instead of motivating, they diminish our interest in what we do. In order to achieve maximum motivational potential in the 21st Century, we should emphasize autonomy, mastery and purpose instead of the “carrots and sticks” approach.
I thought of the text to be very direct and easy to read, even despite being sprinkled with advanced scholarly research from various thinkers from the past 30 -40 years including Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (those of you who can pronounce his name are probably familiar with the concept of “Flow,” by the way, it’s “Chick-sent-me-high”). On top of the theoretical approach to motivation, the author also includes successful workplace innovation management examples from companies such as Google, 3M, Atlassian, etc, as well as examples from the education system.
Favorite Quote from the book: ” Hire good people, and leave them alone” – 3M’s president and chairman from 1930-1940s William McKnight.
Who must read it: managers, CEO’s, teachers, HR, MBA students, and non-profit administrators — the later will find a good backbone for fundraising strategies and how to motivate your volunteers and interns. And, really, everyone else who is curious about of a healthier workplace environment that nurtures creativity and innovation.
Name of the Book: Drive, the surprising truth about what motivates us
Author: Daniel Pink
Year: 2009
Book review by Jerrie K. Lyndon, Creative Mind Forward
jerrielyndon(at)gmail.com
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