Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

From the Publisher

Forget everything you thought you knew about how to motivate people--at work, at school, at home. It's wrong. As Daniel H. Pink explains in his new and paradigm-shattering book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today's world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does--and how that affects every aspect of our lives. He demonstrates that while the old-fashioned carrot-and-stick approach worked successfully in the 20th century, it's precisely the wrong way to motivate people for today's challenges. In Drive, he reveals the three elements of true motivation:

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

Along the way, he takes us to companies that are enlisting new approaches to motivation and introduces us to the scientists and entrepreneurs who are pointing a bold way forward.

Drive is bursting with big ideas-- the rare book that will change how you think and transform how you live.

Library Journal

Management guru Pink, who first made a name for himself with the New York Times best seller A Whole New Mind, elaborates on some decades-old motivational studies indicating that subjects will work more persistently to master an interesting task rather than to gain a reward. On the basis of these well-known research results, he builds a theory of the ideal organization, one based on autonomy, mastery, and purpose, to which end he offers a "tool kit" of self-tests, suggestions, further readings, discussion questions, aphorisms, and various summaries of the book itself (including a Tweetable version). Readers also get accounts of businesses that are taking findings on motivation to heart. VERDICT If you're the sort of person who's jazzed by management seminars and team-building exercises that include a lot of bullet points, you'll love this book—it's Staff Development Day in a box. There are a lot of you out there, so plan accordingly.—Mary Ann Hughes, formerly with Neill P.L., Pullman, WA

Kirkus Reviews

Pop-psychology/business guide debunks the increasingly antiquated concept of financial remuneration as a motivational tool-and offers a better idea. It's easy to sell the notion that work could be considerably more fulfilling, but Wired contributing editor Pink (A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, 2005, etc.) makes a compelling argument that actually sounds plausible and implementable. Through a series of clinical studies, anecdotes and expert testimony, the author builds the case against extrinsic motivation, arguing that monetary rewards (or "carrots and sticks"), while effective for repetitive tasks, are actually detrimental in situations that call for more creative thinking or cognitive reasoning. Given that ingenuity and innovation underpin the 21st-century economy, Pink contends that the key to success-and subsequent happiness and fulfillment in the workplace-is nurturing intrinsic motivation, which involves three key components: autonomy (having control over task, time, team and technique), mastery (being fully engaged in a task with a desire for constant improvement) and purpose (contributing to something larger than one's self). After convincingly demonstrating the importance of restructuring the workplace to emphasize these components, Pink provides a toolkit for managers, parents, teachers and individuals on how to tap into sources of intrinsic motivation. Though the latter section occasionally devolves into an overly enthusiastic new-age self-help tome, the book's main premise is significant. The author presents an integral addition to a growing body of literature that argues for a radical shift in how businesses operate in a worlddominated by technology, and soon to be led by a generation that doesn't necessarily equate money with happiness. Important reading for frustrated but open-minded business leaders struggling to connect with stressed-out workers. Agent: Rafe Sagalyn/Sagalyn Literary Agency

What People Are Saying

Mehmet Oz
Drive is the rare book that will get you to think and inspire you to act. Pink makes a strong, science-based case for rethinking motivation—and then provides the tools you need to transform your life. (Dr. Mehmet Oz, co-author of YOU: The Owners Manual)

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