The puzzle of motivation

Daniel Pink wrote the best-selling book on motivation, Drive.

He said the carrot and the stick approach do not work. What is the carrot and the stick approach and do you agree it won’t work? Why?

• Watch the TED Talk from Dan Pink about motivation

In Dan Pink’s TED Talk, he examines the puzzle of motivation because traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. He shares the results of several experiments that demonstrated that incentives could have the opposite intended impact, especially when tasks are more complicated. Providing money or other incentives to improve right-brained conceptual tasks will probably not work.

Too many organisations are basing decisions on people and talent based on outdated and unexamined information instead of focusing on intrinsic motivation. He explained that for people to be interested and feel important, they should have autonomy, mastery, and purpose.