Here's What I Learned From This NYT Bestseller and Why Everyone Should Read It.

The book we are talking about is Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

Before we dive in, here's what others have to say:

'Drive drives a stake through the bedrock of classic "if-then" motivational theory. It demonstrates in an entertaining way how self-motivated rewards provide their own behavioral alchemy, exposing the mismatch between what science knows and business does' - JAMES BORG, author of Persuasion: The Art of Influencing People.

'Pink's analysis- and new model- of motivation offers tremendous insights into our deepest nature' - Publishers Weekly.

About Author

Daniel H. Pink is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestselling Drive, When, To Sell is Human, A Whole New Mind, and his latest release in 2022, The Power of Regret. His books have been translated into 35 languages and sold more than 2 million copies worldwide.

Introduction

Drive challenges the traditional assumption of businesses that "Humans are fundamentally inert - that in absence of rewards and punishments, we wouldn't do much" Pink calls this "Motivation 2.0." According to 2.0, our actions are driven by two factors: Surviving & Seeking rewards and avoiding Punishments.

Pink provides deeper insights into our behavior and proposes a new model-Motivation 3.0. According to 3.0, our actions are not driven by two factors but instead by three factors, the third factor is what Pink calls "The third drive." According to Edward Deci- a psychology graduate student,"we humans have an inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise our capacities, to explore, and to learn." This is what Pink calls the third drive which, according to him is very fragile and needed the right environment to survive.

Why Rewards & Punishments (Motivation 2.0) Model Fails in the 21st Century

It's not that Motivation 2.0 has stopped working completely. Businesses still use Rewards and Punishments to increase productivity and get better profits. But it's just that sometimes Motivation 2.0 doesn't work properly, these glitches of 2.0 fall into three broad categories.

How We Organize What We Do.

Suppose, you are given two encyclopedias that are to be released in a few years.

The first encyclopedia is written by the best writers who are paid a hefty amount by Microsoft. And Microsoft will sell that encyclopedia in every software it sells.

The other is written by normal writers who write for fun and loves writing, no one pays them and it is free for everyone to use. Which one do you think will be more successful in the next 15 years? Well, Microsoft pulled the plug on MSN Encarta, after 16 years. The other encyclopedia was Wikipedia.

If Motivation 2.0 was flawless, then this shouldn't have happened. According to 2.0, better rewards equals better work. But that isn't the case here. So what is different here?

This is where Motivation 2.0 fails. The writers of Wikipedia are simply driven by the third desire, which is to serve a greater purpose, to do something that maximizes purpose instead of profits (like Microsoft).

If Wikipedia was the only example then it could have been an exception, but in fact, this model is one of the most successful business models of the 21st century: Open Source.

Open source depends on intrinsic motivation with the same ferocity that other business models rely on extrinsic motivation. But in long-run intrinsic motivation will almost always win as well saw in Microsoft vs Wikipedia.

The most common reply of developers to why they joined these open source projects is, "That enjoyment-based intrinsic motivation, namely how creative a person feels when working on a project, is the strongest driver"

Our basic nature is to maximize purpose, but our 21st-century business aims at the maximization of profit.

How We Think About What We Do

The early studies in Economics were based on an assumption that "Humans are rational and we make rational decisions." But this assumption is replaced by "Humans are irrational beings and we make decisions emotionally."

In real life, our behavior is far more complex and often confounds the idea that we are purely rational. We don't save enough for retirement even though it's our clear advantage to do so. We give in to cravings even though we know it isn't the best thing we could do.

In short, we are Irrational- predictably so, says Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational.

To fully understand human economic behavior we have to come to terms with idea that intrinsic motivation is of great importance for all economic activities.

We are not rational & we don't take decisions rationally, as assumed by businesses. We are irrational beings and we take decisions emotionally, which is not always rational.

How We Do What We Do

Experiments conducted by Edward Deci & Harry Harlow in the 20th Century suggest that extrinsic motivation can be detrimental to creative & Non-routine types of work. Further, creative jobs taking over routine jobs. But businesses are lacking behind the science in implementation.

Researchers such as Harvard Business School's Teresa Amabile have also found that external rewards and punishments can work nicely for algorithmic (repetitive) tasks. But they can be devastating for heuristic ones. Amabile concludes that "Intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity; controlling extrinsic motivation is detrimental to creativity."

Extrinsic motivation is detrimental to creativity & non-routine work. In 21st-Century creative work is increasing but businesses are still using "The detrimental" extrinsic motivation.

How To Get Around The Problem?

The experiment conducted by Mark Lepper and David Greene on a classroom of preschoolers opened our eyes to new insights. Their findings suggest that when children didn't expect a reward, receiving one had little impact on their intrinsic motivation. Only contingent rewards- If you do this, then you'll get that- had a negative effect. Why? "If-then" rewards require people to forfeit some of their autonomy. They're no longer fully controlling their lives. And that can spring a hole in the bottom of their motivation bucket, draining the activity of its enjoyment.

These "If-then" motivators that are the staple of most businesses often stifle, rather than stir, creative thinking.

So how do we get around the "If-then" type of rewards? We use the "Now-that" type of reward. "Now-that" type of reward is given after the task is completed.

It loses its effectiveness if the reward is expected. Make sure to follow these two guidelines.

• Consider Non-tangible reward.
• Provide Genuine & Encouraging feedback.

When used improperly extrinsic motivation can have another unintended collateral consequence: it can give us more of what we don't want. Here again, businesses haven't caught up with what science knows. And what science is revealing is that rewards & punishments can promote bad behavior. Check out this experiment conducted by Economist Uri Gneezy and Aldo Rustichini in 2000.

Type I and Type X

Type I behavior is fueled more by intrinsic desires than extrinsic ones. It concerns itself less with the external rewards to which an activity leads and more with the inherent satisfaction of the activity itself. At the center of Type X behavior is the second drive (Seek rewards & Avoid punishment). At the center of Type I behavior is the third drive.

Motivation 2.0 depends on Type X behavior- Behavior fueled more by extrinsic desires than intrinsic ones and concerned less with the inherent satisfaction of an activity.

Motivation 3.0 the upgrade that's necessary for the smooth functioning of twenty-first-century business, depends on and fosters Type I behavior.

Motivation 3.0 can exist only if these three pillars are stable and strong.

1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Purpose

Autonomy

Our "default setting" is to be autonomous and self-directed. Unfortunately, circumstances often conspire to change that default setting and turn from Type I to Type X.

Autonomy here is different from independence. Autonomy here means freedom of choice. You let the worker do his work the way he wants, rather than telling him how to do it. Autonomy and independence can co-exist simultaneously.

Pink talks about Autonomy over the four T's

1. Time (When they want to do it)
2. Technique (How they want to do it)
3. Task (What they want to do)
4. Team (With whom they want to do it)

Mastery

While Motivation 2.0 requires compliance (do want is asked & no questions), Motivation 3.0 depends on engagement. Autonomy automatically leads to engagement. Engagement is a necessity for mastery to be able to exist.

Mastery as Pink says starts with "flow".

Flow is a state of mind, we reach when are doing something we love. When we reach Flow we lose the sense of time. We don't need rewards or punishments to do the task. We don't think about the end result. We are enjoying the process.

Flow is achieved when a task is a perfect fit for us. It is neither too difficult to demotivate us nor too easy to make us bore.

Smart workplaces, therefore, supplement day-to-day activities with "Goldilocks Tasks"- not too hard & not too easy.

Purpose

Humans, by their nature, seek purpose. But traditional businesses have long considered purpose ornamental- a perfect nice accessory, so long it didn't get in the way of important things. But that's changing. In Motivation 3.0, purpose maximization is taking its place alongside profit maximization as an aspiration and a guiding principle.

We especially need to focus on purpose in three different aspects:

1. Purpose in Goal
2. Purpose in Work
3. Purpose in Policies

Conclusion

The central idea of the book is to highlight the gap between what businesses do and what science knows. Our current business system operates on Motivation 2.0 which uses extrinsic motivators to do the work. We need an upgrade. And science shows the way. This new approach has three essential elements:

1. Autonomy - the desire to direct our own lives.
2. Mastery - the urge to make progress and get better at something that matters.
3. Purpose - the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

Why Everyone Needs To Read This Book

Before I had started writing about my personal experience in blogs, I used to own a website. I started it just to earn something, because I felt that if I can't get a job as a student, then I'll do something online & everyone bombarded me with affiliate marketing.

I bought a course, started the website but even after a year it hadn't moved anywhere. There were only 5 articles & hardly 50 visitors.

I took me time to understand that I was extrinsically motivated. I was in there just to earn. Apparently I wasted one year of my life, without doing anything but waste time & money.

If I had read this book at that time. I would probably not have started the website and made a better decision. By the time I found this book on a shelf of a local library, I already had intuitively know about Motivation 3.0. But still I was never clear about it, until I read this book.

I explored myself and learned from mistakes & here I am doing what I love & talking about my mistakes. Hoping that someone (not 100 or 1000, but even 1) who is just getting started can reach this book before they make wrong decision.

Similar Books

Why We Do What We Do - Edward Deci

Talent is Overrated - George Colvin

Mindset - Carol Dweck

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

Punished By Rewards - Alfie Kohn

#DontGiveUp

Affiliate Disclosure

Kishan Prajapati is a participant of Amazon Services LLC Associate Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains Affiliate Links, means If you click on any of those links and make a purchase within a certain time frame, I'll earn a small commission. The commission is paid by the retailers, at no cost to you. This is how it supports me to keep doing what I love.