“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
— Antoine De Saint Exupery
The timeless Saint Exupery message captures the essence of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Author Daniel H. Pink synthesizes four decades of scientific research to debunk the “carrot and stick” myth of driving human motivation. Instead, he cautions that the secret to high performance in today's world lies in nurturing the deep-seated human need for self-determination and independent creation. Through a series of real-world anecdotes, Drive unveils three pillars of motivation.
- Autonomy: the impulse to self-direct with freedom from external control or influence.
- Mastery: the desire for complete knowledge and skills to accomplish an undertaking.
- Purpose: the longing for a raison d'être that serves greater convictions.
Drive should be a clarion call for business leaders to abandon antiquated notions of hiring managers to herd a compensated, yet spiritless, workforce. Good management today shifts focus away from carrots and sticks and engages workers by sparking intrinsic motivators. Drive demonstrates that, given the choice, humans will work for less money if a company offers creative outlet, flexibility, camaraderie, and inspiration.
RSA Animate’s illustrations, adapted from Pink’s RSA talk, provide a beautiful visual representation of the hidden truths of drive.