Book Review - Drive - Critical Insight Into What Motivates Us...

5 out of 5 stars


The psychology of motivation is still an understudied and often misunderstood area of business. Many reviews of this book note that the information is not well annotated, that the writer presents the material in a biased manner to prove his point, and that there is a good amount of fluff in the information presented. To the last two points, I would agree - but that does not detract from the book or the easy flowing nature of the read. To the comments that the book is poorly researched or lacks supporting annotation, there are 8 pages of footnotes in microscopic type, and a whole section in the "toolkit" where 15 books are explicitly added to the reader's reading list, and another 10-15 are noted elsewhere in the book. You may not agree with the message, but Daniel Pink is not the only messenger.

The material resonates with this reader - a chief executive with more than 20 years of management experience. People are beyond base plus bonus. The need to have purpose in life and work seems to be a more compelling driver than ever before. Pink notes that the three elements that appear to motivate people to achieve are:

*Autonomy
*Mastery
*Purpose

If the work environment can provide a maximum opportunity for all three elements, there's a fighting chance that the employee will be successful, motivated, happy, productive and the clients will be well-served. His focus on the Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) mirrors the direction that leading edge companies - especially technology companies - have been taking for years. The innate psychology resonates with this reader for himself as well. It isn't all about the money, but it is all about the achievement or mastery of a craft in which money is a measurement of mastery but not proof of it.

Any manager, teacher or parent should pick this book up and read the profound wisdom contained in its pages. How to think about tasks, work, the structure or organizations and management are all in there, and they are all useful in the development of your own managerial tool box.