Book of the Week: "Drive" by Daniel H. Pink

While reading this book I was reminded of the the pilot episode of House M.D where Dr. House was having a conversation with his supervisor, Dr. Cuddy. Cuddy wanted House to do his required hours in the hospital clinic, but Dr. House quipped back quoting the famous Rolling Stones song "as the philosopher Jagger once said, 'you can't always get what you want.'"

Of course as any boss would be, Cuddy was stunned and taken aback, but found retribution later in the episode after looking up this "Philosopher Jagger." If you're unfamiliar with the Rolling Stone song, right after the third line of "you can't always get what you want," is "but if you try sometimes, you get what you need."

Well what does this random House quote have to do with anything from the book "Drive?" Simple. It's about motivation.

You do eventually get what you want. In the House-Cuddy example, Cuddy wanted to House to do what was required of his job and work clinic hours - she got what she wanted. She just had to figure out HOW to get it. That was her motivation. And motivation is everything.

Motivation is what drives us to do what we do and act how we act. If we want something so badly enough, we will eventually get it. It is also what, in the work world, is the toughest for managers.

It used to be simple, managers and supervisors would dangle a carrot on string (something of value to employee, usually money or a promotion) and the employee would do the job. That is what Daniel Pink describes in the book as Motivation 2.0. It is based on the idea of compliance.

But, today, motivation has shifted. As humans we are not designed to be passive and compliant, but to be active and engaged. We are curious beings and we seek out flow (a state of being where our challenges match our skill sets) in our every day lives.

I'm reminded of a scenario, earlier this year at the Ivy League men's swimming and diving championships. We were between sessions on the final day of the championships. It had been long four days for everyone involved, but as the final night of the championship was approaching, a swimmer was standing at the edge of the pool, by the same lane the Ivy logo was in at the bottom of the pool. Our multimedia crew saw this too and with excitement in his eyes he hustled over to computers to record an image of the swimmer swimming across the Ivy logo in the pool.

He exhibited child-like wonder, saw something he wanted, and he went after it. That is engagement.

When you are engaged in the workplace, you're going to have a much more pleasurable experience. I've worked a few different places with varying degrees of management styles and I've come to find the one's I enjoy best are those where I have the opportunity to feel like I'm being heard.

In some work environments there may be weekly team meetings and even if it's only a staff of three people, it can feel that team meeting can feel less intimate. But when there are one-on-one meetings every few weeks in addition provides the employee with the an opportunity to voice their concerns, desires and if he/she is feeling over- or under-whelmed. That is what Pink calls Motivation 3.0.

We all want that in our every day lives both professionally and personally.