As some of you know, I’m finishing up a book about the science of motivation. And each day, it seems, brings more evidence of how we’ve gotten this subject all wrong.
The latest example comes from the London School of Economics, where scholars looked at 51 studies on pay-for-performance schemes:
“We find that financial incentives may indeed reduce intrinsic motivation and diminish ethical or other reasons for complying with workplace social norms such as fairness. As a consequence, the provision of incentives can result in a negative impact on overall performance.”
Ooops. Will we finally do things differently in our new, post-Madoff era?
One of the great things about a long project, like the book I’m finishing now, is not only the source of satisfaction at the end — but also what you learn about yourself and how you work along the way.
What I’m discovering, or perhaps confirming, this time around is what kind of animal I am.
“In all the briefing papers prepared for the famous Clinton Little Rock [economic] summit in late 1992, the word Internet never appeared.” – Daniel Gross, Newsweek
Here’s a 24-foot Buckminster Fuller dome in the lobby of NeoCon 09.  This is the first time I’ve seen one of Bucky’s domes in person. It’s pretty cool and a bit wacky — much like the man himself.
In preparing for a visit to NeoCon 2009, I’ve been doing a fair bit of research on the utterly fascinating lives of Charles and Ray Eames.
The Eameses, as most of you know, created, well, everything. Furniture. Graphics. Sculptures. Medical equipment. Films.
In the 1930s, Charles, at the time somewhat frustrated with his architectural practice, picked up and left for Mexico. There, wandering and scraping for money, he made a decision. He vowed not to
“take any . . . job — the objective of which you don’t agree with. . . . [T]his has all kinds of advantages to it. You can bring your whole self to it; you don’t have any half experiences. It also means that you don’t take a job that you know is wrong, but you take it as a stepping stone. That’s no good. It . . . leads to all kinds of bad habits.”
“One of the guys I worked for very early on said: ‘As you think about career, it’s not about planning it. Things are too dynamic; there’s too much going on; there are too many things that’ll pop up, good and bad. It’s not about planning and career planning; it’s about preparation and building skills. And if you do that, then you’ll recover from the mishaps, and you’ll be able to take advantage of the opportunities.’”
photo by jerry bauer
As some of you know, I’m finishing up a book about the science of motivation. And each day, it seems, brings more evidence of how we’ve gotten this subject all wrong.
