The writing itself shows insight and intelligence while also having an energy and enthusiasm to it as well. Due to all of these factors, it is a reasonable assessment to say that the book achieved it's goals and objectives, and created a highly effective roadmap going forward for continued study of leadership and management.
How the Book Affected My Perception of Management and Leadership
Dan Pink is a very accomplished speaker who can quickly move from one complex concept to another, showing how they all interrelate to the areas of human motivation, management and leadership. This book changed my perception of what leadership is from the context of creating platforms for positive personal and professional growth, and also showed how powerful the combining of autonomy, mastery and purpose are in the context of long-term motivation. This book also shows how critical it is to create a culture where employees have the opportunity to gain greater levels of personal motivation through the combination of autonomy, mastery and purpose (Pink, 2011). In addition to these personal aspects of leadership the Sawyer Effect was also very interesting to learn about and consider the implications of for work. When Dan Pink speaks of the concepts from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, specifically the areas of "flow," he explains the experiences I've had working in my favorite subject areas, where time literally stops and I am fully engaged in work. This insight and many others like it that show how critical getting to that state of performance...
They are also evident throughout personal experience, which is what an excellent book will force one to evaluate as they read through it. Dan Pink provides exceptional insight into the overall structure of human motivation, anchoring his most critical point with proven empirical research and insightful analysis from Dr. Carl Dweck of Stanford and others to further clarify and enhance the premise of this book.
Summary
In conclusion, I continue to recommend this book to others as it has an exceptionally valuable amount of content and insightful analysis as well. It also has an extensive level of insight and intelligence into human behavior and motivation, packaged so it is directly applicable to management of teams and entire organizations. The development of the three-stage taxonomy of Motivation 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 together form an excellent progression as well, showing how the areas of motivational theory have progressed rapidly in the last one hundred years. His insights into the evolution of human behavior, including empirically sound sources from academic, further bolster and strengthen the foundational elements of this book making it an excellent read.
References
Pink, DH (2011). Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.…
