Book review: Drive

Daniel H. Pink wrote "Drive" in 2007.

Mr. Pink attempts to explain what motivates us, and he starts by explaining what does not motivate us, or at least, no longer motivates us. Starting at the turn of the previous century, with the coming of the industrial revolution, business leaders recognized that much industrial work was not inherently rewarding, and so set up systems to reward good behavior (more widgets per hour) and punish bad behavior (sleeping on the job). These systems persist to this day, even though the kind of work many of us do is no longer "algorithmic" (following a set of steps to arrive at a finished product or service). Many of us perform "heuristic" work that requires creativity to arrive at an optimal, or at least satisfactory, solution. Think: advertising campaign.

It turns out that the reward/punishment model does not work so well here and, in fact, it can be counter-productive. He calls examples from research and from literature.

He summarized a study with children that presented play opportunities, one of which was drawing. The researchers separated the children into three groups; the first received no recognition or praise for drawing with crayons. The second received certificates after drawing, but were not told at the start of the certificates. The third group was told at the start that they would receive a certificate. Two weeks later the children were invited back; the researchers measured the portion from each group that drew in the first session and drew in this later session. The third group, the one with the announced reward, sported the lowest number of returning artists.

Another research study concluded that paying for blood will result in fewer collections than relying on donations.

Still other researchers followed a day care center and observed parent punctuality after the center imposed a fee for retrieving a child late. Parents were less punctual, not more, after that policy change. However, as I read this summary, it seemed to me that if the fine had been high enough they tardiness would decrease, or revenues would increase, or possibly both.

The literary example comes from Mark Twain. Mr. Pink reminds us of a vignette from "Tom Sawyer" where Huckleberry Finn is assigned the task of applying whitewash to a fence. He feigns interest in the task, causing his friends to become interested. They ask if they can help, Huckleberry Finn refuses. Only after after they give him something of value does Huck relent; the friends apply and re-apply the whitewash and Huck gathers many treasures. He regrets that he ran out of whitewash, and states: "Work consists of those things a body has to do, play consists of those things a body wants to do."

Pink recommends rewards in the "now that" form, rather than "if-then". "If-then" leads to the children's art scenario described above, while "now-that" rewards, such as "now that the team has successfully finished the project the company will treat for lunch, reinforces the intrinsic rewards the team members felt.

Parallel to the division between type A and type B people, Pink posits type I and type X people. While acknowledging that everyone will have elements of both types in their personalities, type I people seek intrinsic rewards and those of type X seeks extrinsic rewards. He claims that, over the long-term, the type I person is more productive than the type X person in the office; he does not explain how he knows this. And certainly, while intrinsic rewards can motivate people, there are a lot of slackers out there.