Drive

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

By: Daniel H. Pink

Narrated by: Daniel H. Pink

The New York Times best seller that gives listeners a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.

Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money - the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction - at work, at school, and at home - 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 life. He examines the three elements of true motivation - autonomy, mastery, and purpose - and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

©2009 Daniel H. Pink (P)2009 Penguin

Critic reviews

"Pink makes a convincing case that organizations ignore intrinsic motivation at their peril." (Scientific American)

"Persuasive...Harnessing the power of intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic remuneration can be thoroughly satisfying and infinitely more rewarding." (Miami Herald)

"These lessons are worth repeating, and if more companies feel emboldened to follow Mr. Pink's advice, then so much the better." (Wall Street Journal)

Very interesting topic

This is an interesting topic and a well written synopsis of the science of motivation. If you are a leader in a working company who has had to motivate people in the past, this book will mostly confirm what you already know. Monetary and other extrensic incentives don't work and they can be very detrimental. That in itself makes it valuable as a work of literature. There are a lot of people in high levels of leadership who may actually need a book like this to tell them what they should already know by looking at the effects of the systems they have created.

I wouldn't call this book a must read or a game changer however. It is saying what a LOT of literature in the business world is currently saying. What it does do is organize what is very good science behind ideas that are being propogated in many other books. There are a few other books I would recommend ahead of this one but if you are well read in business and leadership texts, this is definitely not one you want to skip.

Pink does it again

After reading Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind, (highly recommended), I was delighted to hear what he had to say about motivation. He did not dissapoint me. His explanations make sense, and are relevant, supported by science, and useful for anyone: in business, raising children, or for personal motivation. I will listen to this often.

The New Economy!

The author makes some excellent, clear, and factual arguments about the simple truth of SUCCESS - that personal and societal achievment are best cultivated under a home, school, or work environment that promotes autonomy, mastry, and purpose. Loved the software upgrade analogies! The larger points seem very much aligned to A.Maslow's Self-Actualization Theory. This book is a must-read for any manager, teacher, coach, or parent!

Read Drive

Drive got trashed by the Economist - you should read it and make your own judgements.

Drive falls squarely in the "strengths" literature - a field I know best from the work of Marcus Buckingham. The basic premise is familiar. Traditional management strategies of incentives and sanction (rewards and sticks) are at best ineffective and at worst counter-productive in motivating performance. Effect motivation needs to be intrinsic. People need to do work that is meaningful, and they need be given both autonomy and responsibility for their jobs. Workplaces (and educational environments) are best set-up to focus on results rather than means. People will perform well if their job (or education's) matches their strengths (passions) - efforts by management to focus on and correct weaknesses are bound to fail.

Personally, I find this philosophy both correct and liberating. Drive is a book that I hope is read and discussed in both higher ed. and in other workplaces.

Summary of Concepts From Other Books

It's not a surprising truth when it is mainly a summary of information covered in other books like 'Mindset' (Carol Dweck), 'Flow' (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi), 'Grit' (Angela Duckworth), 'Peak' (Anders Ericsson), and 'Talent Is Overrated' (Geoff Colvin). However, it does do a nice job of connecting the concepts from the various books and providing actions at the end of each chapter.

AWESOME

Loved it... must read. Learned a TON!

An ABSOLUTE Must Read for Innovative Leaders!!!

Drive is an absolute must read for supervisors, managers and leaders! It captures the very essence of what's needed in today's workplace to inspire staff to meet their full potential and beyond. The concepts are well articulated, easily digested, innovative and exciting. I can't wait to share this with my colleagues!!!

Must read!!

Fantastic book on what drives people. Simply intuitive. Take these lessons and apply them in business or life.

excellent for people in positions of authority

as a sales coach and sales manager I found this book to offer insightful knowledge that can help me to help other sales managers in motivating their teams to higher levels of production. this book also did a fabulous job of explaining why we should not be doing many of the things that sales managers do today thinking that we are going to help our team and in reality we are hurting them. This is a must-read for all people in positions of authority

great listen

Dan is a fantastic speaker and the content is relevant to all walks of life and business. particularly like that my reading list always grows after listening to Mr. Piink