Does unconditional love mean you accept people fully — without wanting them to be better? As a parent, does it mean you don’t push your kids to do better? As a spouse, does it mean you don’t encourage your partner to grow? As a manager, does it mean you accept ho-hum performance? Recently I noticed [...]
As the New Year approaches, many of us will pursue happiness by setting goals. But when it comes to happiness, we cannot trust our brains to point us in the right direction. Our brains confuse ‘wanting’ with ‘happiness’ because of the simplicity of the dopamine reward mechanisms.
I’m distressed about purposelessness. The serious companies with whom we consult worldwide have all spent time, and usually a lot of money, crafting a “vision-mission-values” statement. There seems to be some confusion about why. Sometimes, it seems, they’ve made one because that’s what everyone else does. Something’s just not “clicking” – or maybe I’m just [...]
In the Six Seconds Model, the “capstone” is a competency we call “Pursue Noble Goals,” which enables you to connect with purpose in your daily life — to put your purpose into action. Daniel Pink’s video about his new book, DRIVE, provides a fun and clear way of talking about this essential topic: Two questions [...]
This simple, clear model shows how different motivators drive different kinds of performance — and helps managers, leaders, parents, educators — anyone concerned with motivating others — consider how to use their emotional intelligence to fuel lasting motivation. This model is presented in the “Motivation from the Inside Out” module in the Developing Human Performance [...]
If I offered you $100 to read an article more intently, would it really make a difference in your actions? It would be difficult to measure this because I’ve asked for a change in your attitude or motivation. On the other hand, if I offered you $100 to proofread this article without missing anything, I [...]
Have you heard this story? It illustrates what we’re learning about incentives and motivation. A slightly different version is found in Alfie Kohn’s, Punished by Rewards – The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes. For months, an old man endured the insults of a group of boys as they ran [...]
Do you want “your people” to be motivated, or do you want to control them? I suspect many people (managers, teachers, parents) get these confused from time to time. I know I do! Of course most people say “motivated” but is that what they put in action? Control means they do what you want. Motivated [...]