Hugh’s Blog

Add a dose of passion

If you haven’t picked up Daniel Pink’s latest book Drive: the surprising truth about that motivates us it is definitely worth a read. And if you are at all involved in managing people you need to read it.

The theme is pretty straightforward but how Pink pulls together research, some of which is forty years old, into a compelling narrative is what fascinates me.

The theme is that ‘carrots and sticks’ motivators (what Pink calls “if, then”) can actually be de motivators. The trick is to use them only for what he calls “analog” work (think routine, left brain, repetitive and predictable). The best motivators for the right brain, creative thinkers that tend to be self directed are purpose, mastery and autonomy.

I love what he has done here. It is a remix of existing data, but repacked for the new digital era. It also is perfect timing in the management theory evolution as we seem to be a gap between the Covey, Peters, Greenleaf theorists and whatever will come next.

If you haven’t seem a snapshot of the book, watch Pink on Ted in Oxford last year http://blog.ted.com/2009/08/the_surprising.php. It’s an entertaining bit with lots of clever lines and one of the shortest Powerpoint presentations in history (a good thing).

So here’s my question. What makes this message so compelling? And why is Pink now the darling of CBC, Oprah, Wired, CBS and probably dozens of media outlets? I think I know the secret.

It’s a dose of passion. Watch him on YouTube http://www.danpink.com/, listen to him on audio recordings and read his blog of books. He projects a passion for his ideas that tie the thinking together and makes it more interesting. In short, it all comes down to the delivery.

After all, how else do you make forty year old research data interesting and get a following?

Drop me a line and let me know what you think…

Hugh D. Culver is a thought leader in personal performance at work. He has worked with over 450 organizations to inspire change, growth and success in the workplace. You can reach Hugh at hugh@HughCulver.com