Saturday, February 19, 2011

ARE WE AHEAD OF THE TIMES?

What motivates you to succeed? What about your staff? And perhaps more important, what's your definition of success?

It has long been viewed by the corporate world that it is money that drives us to get ahead; that external rewards will propel us to do better and work harder for our employers.

In his new book, Drive, author Daniel Pink reveals that this premise is wrong and “four decades of scientific research on human motivation has revealed a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.”

So what does motivate us? “The secret to high performance and satisfaction at work, at school and at home – is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things and to do better by ourselves and our world.” says Pink.

Now this “discovery” comes as no surprise to me. I’ve known this for years and it’s not that I am a particularly forward-thinking individual. I am confident if you asked other entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs, the reaction would be the same.

My “drive” if you will, has always been to make a difference and one of the reasons many women start a business is to gain control and direct their own lives. And as for the creating new things – again as entrepreneurs we fit the bill.

Having said that, my hope is that our corporate leaders will read this book and implement the strategies suggested, because maybe then they will catch up with us, and as a human race we can all work together towards common goals.

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