Drive by Daniel H. Pink

Cover of Drive

Daniel Pink, author of thought-provoking books such as A Whole New Mind and The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, has written an inspiring work for the 21st century. The ideas presented in Drive are relevant to business, education, and virtually any aspect of personal growth and development. It's a call to achieve excellence and satisfaction in life. One can only hope the call is heeded.

The Candle Problem

The central premise of Drive is that science has known for a long time that intrinsic motivation leads to success much more often than the extrinsic variety. Pay people well and give them interesting work, and they will do amazing things. In the battle of the "carrot versus the stick," the carrot can be just as bad as the stick when it comes to driving achievement.

Take for example, the candle problem. Subjects are presented with a candle, a book of matches, and a box of tacks. They are tasked with attaching the candle to the wall and catching the hot wax dripping from the lit candle in the box. Time and time again, research has shown that when people are divided into two groups and one group is offered a reward for solving the problem fastest, the people in the group that was not offered the reward usually finish first.

This seems counter-intuitive. For rote, repetitive tasks requiring not much imagination or problem solving, reward-based motivation can work. But, for problems requiring out-of-the-box thinking and creativity, working mostly to earn a reward usually stymies the effort.

Autonomy as a Key to Success and Motivation

Pink presents three keys to motivation and success. The first is autonomy. When given the leeway to choose how to best accomplish a task or achieve a goal without being told exactly how to do it, the task is usually done better and the people doing it are happier. Pink gives a number of example of companies that are successful using fairly extreme versions of workplace autonomy.

The notion that worker autonomy leads to better results than a top down management approach is largely foreign to the philosophies and methods taught in most business schools but the results speak for themselves.

Pink's Theories on Purpose and Achieving Goals

Another of Pink's thought provoking assertions is that life is better and goals are better achieved if the purpose of achieving them is for something more than strict personal gain. The recent backlash against Wall Street executives who seem to pursue profits at all costs has led many to question the precept that more and more financial gain is always the best corporate policy.

Again using examples from the real world, Pink shows just how much better it can be (for everyone really) when workers, managers and entrepreneurs connect their business goals with a higher purpose; a purpose of leaving a legacy, helping others, or leaving the world a better place for one's efforts.

Pink's Concepts of Mastery and Achievement

Mastery of anything is hard. It takes a long time, and there is no guarantee of a payoff at the end. So why do people spend decades learning to play a musical instrument when they have no real professional aspirations? Because they want to, they find value in it,and they get enjoyment from it.

The concept of "flow" is important to Pink's thesis. Flow derives from the thoughts and work of psychologist Mike Csikszentmihalyi, who discovered that people who are really "into" what they are doing achieve a special state wherein time seems to fly by and they are totally immersed in their task. Seek flow, and mastery and happiness will follow.

In Drive, Daniel Pink has produced what is essentially a guidebook for achievement, productivity and personal fulfillment. The book's back matter contains suggestions for how to determine one's own place on the road to autonomy, purpose and mastery, and then gives some ideas on how to move in the right direction. Better get started.

Pink, Daniel H.; Drive; New York, NY: Riverhead Books, 2009.