Drive: The Surprising Truth About

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us Book Review

The best-selling book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (Pink, 2011) the author successfully translates several key motivational concepts and frameworks into actionable advice that anyone interested in behavior change can benefit from. Dan Pink is a well-regard global authority on human motivation, and has spoken often at the world's most prestigious conference including TED Conferences as well. He published this book with Riverhead Books on April 5, 2011 and has since seen in published in dozens of languages. The ISBNs for this book are 1594484805 and 978-1594484803.

Dan Pink's Purpose For Writing Drive

Mr. Pink's unique approach to determining the optimal mix of autonomy, mastery and purpose in people's lives as long-term motivators resonates through this book. He is on a mission to tell the world how powerful these three constructs are in making even the most abstract and challenging jobs more interesting and fulfilling. After reading this book twice and reflecting on his insights, it's clear he is very passionate about educating the world about the triad of autonomy, mastery and purpose as they relate to individual initiative and motivation.

Mr. Pink also has devised a useful taxonomy for defining the generational differences between motivational states and levels within society. His approach to delineating the differences between Motivation 1.0 relative to Motivation 2.0 and 3.0 parallel the progression of his own thinking as well. He shows how the common assumptions in the Motivation 2.0 mindset of paying more to get more done break down with more abstract, challenging and complex tasks. He succinctly states that "rewarding an activity will get you more of it, and punishing an activity will get you less of it" (pg. 34) which is the foundation of Motivation 2.0 thinking. He is quick to point out that this mentality or mindset of paying just for performance is a fallacy in the more abstract, conceptually challenging professions that are increasingly dominating the 21st century.

His orchestration of concepts for Motivation 3.0 however is where the value of this book rises far above others in the field of management, leadership and the study of human behavior. He provides insights into how the three core concepts of autonomy, mastery and purpose are highly effective when used in conjunction with the core concepts of Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University and her excellent book Mindset. Dan Pink is determined in the Motivation 3.0 area of the book to continually show how the examples Dr. Dweck has found in her research support autonomy, mastery and purpose and how her concepts of Growth Mindset are well attuned to each other. What emerges from this analysis is a very viable and scalable personal growth framework that can be used for managing human motivation and change. Mr. Pink orchestrates all of these factors together into a cohesive narrative that shows he understands this area thoroughly and has a passion for studying it. 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 is for continual motivation to take place.

In terms of the arguments put forth by Dan Pink including the taxonomy of motivation he has created to anchor the book, they are defensible from the standpoint of human behavior and motivation. 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.