Pile On Motivation

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Category: Entrepreneurial

  • Why is Motivation 3.0 needed in the modern day Infinite Game?

    This blogpost throws light on why Motivation 3.0 is so relevant in the modern day of Infinite Game.

    The Carrot and Stick method had worked wonders in the age of Industrial revolution and is still popular with organizations who want to instill fear and get work done out of people.

    Such a short term oriented mindset seldom stands the test of time.If it relates to driving results in the short term incentives like the “Carrot and Stick” seem to work but this can never be a sustainable solution when it comes to doing something revolutionary.

    Hence the Motivation 2.0 mindset prevalent in the Industrial Age needs to be upgraded like and operating system needs to from time to time , in order to motivate people towards achievement of a long term vision or a JUST CAUSE.

    The components of AUTONOMY , MASTERY and SENSE of PURPOSE are components of Motivation 3.0 which needs to be part of any employee motivational program in order to get the best out of employees in the modern day Knowledge Worker Age.

    The concepts have been adopted from Daniel Pink’s Drive and Simon Sinek’s Infinite Game.

  • Motivation 3.0 and its components

    Human motivational requirements have evolved starting with Motivation 1.0 during the caveman times wherein the motivational requirements was basic survival needs.

    Then came the Industrial Revolution Age and Motivation 1.0 underwent an upgrade to Motivation 2.0 wherein the “reward or punish” or “carrot and stick” method took off and started showing great results for getting work done out of workers in a factory model mode.

    In the modern conceptual age of the Knowledge worker the time has come to upgrade Motivation 2.0 to 3.0 since when it comes to right brain oriented tasks , Carrot and Stick methods start giving detrimental results.

    Hence the basis of  Motivation 3.0 in the modern age are the following three major components to get people intrinsically motivated in order to get the best outcome.

    1. Autonomy
    2. Mastery
    3. Purpose

    Adopted from Daniel Pink’s book Drive.

  • Why behavioral physics fails to explain prominence of Open Source Software?

    During the Industrial Revolution Era , “Carrot & Stick” technique grew in prominence and produced remarkable results.

    The rational principle was to reward people for doing the routine bound work efficiently and this reward in turn resulted in increasing efficiency.

    On the flip side , punishing people for being inefficient resulted in improvement of efficiency.

    This is in line with behavioral physics as well….

    In the modern knowledge worker age , Open source software has grown in prominence.Be it Apache , Github , Linux , Wikipedia all these are examples where intrinsically motivated group of programmers have collaborated just for the sole reason of prosperity and benefit of their fraternity without expecting anything in return.

    This is thus totally not explainable by behavioral physics and thus proves that adopting Carrot and Stick approach in the modern knowledge worker age can lead to detrimental results.

    Adopted from Daniel Pink’s book Drive.

  • This analogy between “Motivation” and Computer “Operating System” is fascinating

    Daniel Pink’s book drive is a masterclass when it comes to explanation of concepts around human Motivation.

    Like a computer operating system needs upgrade over time to safeguard against vulnerabilities and security threats , similarly “Motivational Methods” need to be upgraded over time to give desired results.

    For e.g. During Caveman times the need was to stay safe from more powerful wild animals and hence safety acted as the Motivational mantra.

    In the Industrial Revolution era , the Motivational methodology needed an upgrade to the “Reward & Punishment” or “Carrot & Stick” method to get the best out of factory workers indulged in mundane routine bound work.

    Along similar lines again in the era of Knowledge worker or in the Conceptual age the “Motivational methodology” needs another upgrade to place more emphasis on intrinsic motivation by giving more autonomy to the knowledge worker.

    The analogy is truly fascinating.

  • Key insight on application of “Carrot and Stick” method

    Daniel Pink’s book Drive provides some key insights on the flaws related to the “Carrot and Stick” method which has been so successfully adopted in the Industrial Era.

    When applied to left brain oriented work for e.g. development of algorithm or mundane routine bound work done in a factory shop floor this method gives great results.

    But when applied in the modern Knowledge Worker Conceptual age where heuristics and Right Brain thinking matter , adoption of this method can lead to very detrimental effects by killing intrinsic motivation.

    Having understood this would help us adopt this approach with caution on a case to case basis.

  • Seven Deadly Flaws of ‘Carrot & Stick” Method

    The seven deadly flaws of the “Carrot and Stick” method are:

    1. They can extinguish INTRINSIC MOTIVATION
    2. They can DIMINISH PERFORMANCE
    3. They can CRUSH CREATIVITY
    4. They can crowd out GOOD BEHAVIOR
    5. They can encourage cheating , shortcuts and unethical behavior
    6. They can become addictive
    7. They can foster short term thinking

    Adopted from the book “Drive” by Daniel Pink

  • Why we should unleash our PASSION in the right direction?

    Adopted from the great inspirational quote of Simon Sinek.

    “Our PASSION lies DEEP in WHO we ARE NOT WHAT WE DO.”

  • The most inspiring quote ever heard of

    The following quote from Simon Sinek is very inspiring to the core and aptly defines where to channelize most of our effort and energy.

    “When we work HARD for something WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN , it is called STRESS.

    When we work HARD for something WE DO BELIEVE IN , it is called PASSION.”

  • The quote that makes us realize the truth about “Pessimism”

    The following quote from Simon Sinek is inspiring to the core and teaches us to fight Pessimism in the best possible manner.

    “The ONLY way to DEFEAT PESSIMISM is with OPTIMISM.”

  • Major difference between a “finite” minded and an “infinite” minded player

    The following quote from Simon Sinek aptly highlights the difference in mindset between an infinite minded and a finite minded player.

    “Where a FINITE MINDED player FEARS things that are NEW or DISRUPTIVE , the INFINITE MINDED player REVELS in them.”