Review of "Drive The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us authored by Daniel H Pink

Book Review Of "Drive -  The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us"     A Book Review by Chris "Crispy" Garrah

The Book Review

The author Daniel Pink allows the reader in the book to tweet this message about the book.  "Carrots & sticks are so last century.  Drive says for 21 century work we need to attain autonomy, mastery & purpose."

Do I believe the book is straight-forward?   Well, I think a book entitled Motivation for Dummies might be easier.   But concepts I gleaned from the book are that intrinsic motivation will motivate someone more than pay and that pay might actually discourage an activity that someone enjoys.   So I think the book discourages parents for paying for good activities a child may engage in.  In the above tweet the words autonomy, mastery & purpose are the key words in motivation.

I believe the book is saying autonomy - the ability to direct oneselve is going to motivate someone to excel.   I believe the book is saying that the enjoyable feeling you get when you are immersed in something rewarding or "flow" is the key ingredient to allow someone to follow the pain that ten years required to master something.   (the "mastery" part)   And lastly I recall somewhere in the book that the author is indicating that money accrual can leave someone feeling empty so a higher purpose is important to stay motivated or have a good feeling.   Of course, these are my interpretations and if someone is an excellent summariser of research please steer me in another direction.

For Further Research

One of the key researchers Daniel H Pink notes is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.    And be sure to read Daniel H Pink's book to read what he actually meant.  ...... rather than my book review interpretation.

What this could mean for leaders

Could it mean that leaders need to allow followers to have more independence in deciding on a purpose ie. having autonomy?   Does it mean suggesting to students to find what they enjoy/  what make them have flow 
in order to endure ten years of mastering something?   I know that there are over 200 pages of information and that key concepts can be missed in a quick read.   Please let me know what you think the book is about  if you are inclined.   Many thanks.