This is a really interesting and well-done animated presentation by author Daniel Pink on the subject of motivation. Apparently, it isn’t solely about the money, which is something I’ve come to realize personally over the course of my short career. (I could mention our new Governor’s announcements today regarding further economic cuts to state employees, including all of us who work in the already battered UW system. It’s really demoralizing.)
According to Pink, autonomy, mastery, and purpose are what really drive us. We want to be self-directed. We want to be good at what we do. And we want to feel that we are contributing to something larger than ourselves. (And in light of today’s news regarding state employees — which is on the mind of many people today — it is my feeling that we want to work for an organization that actually values us and what we do.)
“If we start treating people like people and not assuming that they’re simply horses — slower, smaller, better smelling horses — if we get past this kind of ideology of carrots and sticks and look at the science, I think we can actually build organizations and work lives that make us better off, but I also think they have the promise to make our world just a little bit better.“
Delineation of Design 
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