I just saw this video on motivation in the Twenty-first century. Daniel Pink makes a case that motivation with carrots and sticks only works if you are doing repetitive tasks with no creative problem solving involved. Instead, if you want an employee to be engaged and motivated to do creative problem solving, these factors are better motivators:
- Autonomy
- Mastery
- Purpose
When I watched this, it brought reminded me why I thought the cliché of a starving artist is so much a part of society.
Society to romanticizes the starving artist because he or she works because of their passion for their art, not for money. Sometimes, this is taken too far and creative people a maligned for doing any creative endeavor for money.
As in any idea that is carried to extremes, the starving artist model is just as flawed as the artist who is only in it for the money. We all need enough compensation to survive. However, if you’re just in it for the money, there really isn’t much of a point to it.
Instead, we all want a purpose beyond cash. We’d like to master our craft. And we’d like the ability to direct our own work.
Some great points from Daniel Pink. It’s well worth the view.
