Drive

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

In this book Daniel Pink suggests that there has been an evolution in human motivation. He identifies this process as having gone through three evolutionary stages:

• Motivation 1.0 - Basic biological instinct, where we were motivated purely by survival
• Motivation 2.0 - Reward and punishment, the familiar carrot and stick dynamic
• Motivation 3.0 - Intrinsic motivation, where we are motivated from within by the human drive to create, learn and achieve

Motivation and Performance

The author observes that there is a big gap between what science knows and what business does. The 'surprising truth' alluded to in the subtitle refers to scientific findings that Type 2.0 extrinsic motivators can often actually reduce performance, particularly in tasks that require thought. Research shows that giving people extra rewards for work is not an effective way to motivate them in the long run. It may work at first, but then an expectation is created and when the reward is not increased they become demotivated.

The Third Drive

When looking at what motivates people in modern times, Pink identifies what he calls 'Type 1' behaviour. By this he means a way of thinking and an approach to business grounded in science and powered by the innate drive to direct our own lives, to create and learn new things and to do better both for ourselves and for the wider world.

The Three Key Elements of Motivation 3.0

In the context of business, Pink claims that encouraging Type 1 behaviours through Motivation 3.0 will raise productivity, performance and profits. The essential components for an environment that supports this sort of behaviour are:

1. Autonomy - the desire to direct and be in control of our own lives and activity
2. Mastery - the drive towards accomplishment is best achieved when people are in that state often described as 'flow', described by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly in his book of the same name as the experience when "a person's body or mind is stretched to the limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile."
3. Purpose - the yearning to engage with and contribute to something greater than ourselves

"Being a professional . . . is doing the things you love to do,
on the days you don't feel like doing them."