Motivation
by Daniel H. Pink
Why don't bonuses work better?
Most workplaces run on the assumption that people chase rewards and avoid punishments. Daniel Pink gathered decades of research suggesting that assumption is often wrong, especially for work that needs thought. Drive is about what moves us instead.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Pink describes motivation like a computer's operating system. Motivation 1.0 was survival. Motivation 2.0 is carrots and sticks, which suits simple, routine work. Motivation 3.0 runs on intrinsic motivation, the pull of doing something because it's interesting and worth doing.
'If you do this, then you'll get that' works well for routine tasks. For creative work, Pink says, it narrows people's focus and can crowd out the interest they had to begin with. A 'now that' reward, given unexpectedly after the work, does less harm.
These are Pink's three elements of Motivation 3.0. Autonomy is control over what you do, when, how and with whom. Mastery is the urge to get better at something that matters. Purpose is doing it for something larger than yourself.
If-then rewards
Paying people for results works for simple chores, but it can make creative work worse.
Motivation 3.0
Carrots and sticks aren't the whole story. People also do things because they enjoy them.
Autonomy
Give people a say in what they work on, when, how and with whom.
Mastery
We want to get better at things that matter to us, even when progress is slow.
Goldilocks tasks
The best tasks are a little too hard but not much, which is where people lose track of time.
A story from the book
People are given a candle, a box of drawing pins and matches, and asked to fix the candle to a wall. The trick is to use the box as a shelf. In Sam Glucksberg's version, people offered cash to solve it quickly took longer.
Hot take · true or myth?
Once pay feels fair, money stops being the main thing that drives people.
True. Pink's advice is to pay enough to take money off the table. Below that, people feel cheated. Above it, autonomy, mastery and purpose do more.
One thing to try
Pink borrows a line Clare Boothe Luce gave President Kennedy, that a great man is one sentence. Write yours, the line you'd want your life summed up in. Then each evening ask the small version. Was I better today than yesterday?
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. Drive comes with a Hot Take round and a Your Move story to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appWhy don't bonuses work better? Most workplaces run on the assumption that people chase rewards and avoid punishments. Daniel Pink gathered decades of research suggesting that assumption is often wrong, especially for work that needs thought. Drive is about what moves us instead.
Motivation 3.0; If-then rewards; Autonomy, mastery, purpose.
Pink borrows a line Clare Boothe Luce gave President Kennedy, that a great man is one sentence. Write yours, the line you'd want your life summed up in. Then each evening ask the small version. Was I better today than yesterday?
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from Drive in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Hot Take round and a Your Move story to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
