Drive

By Daniel H. Pink,

Book cover of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Book description

The New York Times bestseller that gives readers 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…

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Why read it?

4 authors picked Drive as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Finally, someone has revealed the truth about what really motivates people.

Pink challenges traditional motivational techniques and sheds light on the key drivers of high performance. My clients complain a lot about their employees, and often it’s because they don’t understand them as well as they think they do. I’m grateful to have people like Daniel Pink out their sharing the insights people need to become better bosses who can lead better teams.

Really good read. 

Getting the most from yourself and others requires an intrinsic understanding of why people do what they do.

And this book describes a framework that is both actionable and incredibly easy to understand. By showing how all of us desire autonomy, mastery, and purpose, we can reflect on what brings meaning to our lives and our work.

As a leader, you can map this framework into the goals and objectives that you set with your staff, and you won’t believe the difference.

Daniel Pink is a terrific author who draws on his former experience as a lawyer to build his case in his books. 

What I love about Drive is how Pink explains the mistake we made trying to motivate people incorrectly. He examined the elements of true motivation, which he considers autonomy, mastery, and purpose. 

Although curiosity sparks motivation, it is critical to learn the things that motivation impacts if you can ignite that spark.

In addition to the book, I’ve seen Pink deliver a talk at a conference on how we are wired as humans.

Similar to First, Break All the Rules, he shares some fascinating psychological studies and then goes on to outline how to use this knowledge to motivate and manage our teams.

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