Monday’s Episode

282: How to Motivate People: Dan Ariely joined me for a discussion about the best ways to motivate people, according to the research. Dan is a multiple New York Times bestselling author and author of the new book Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations.

Key Points

• The things that motivate us are about accomplishment and achievement, not day-to-day happiness.
• Most people realize that they themselves are not truly motivated by money, but they still assume other people are completely motivated by it.
• Figure out a way to pay people that adds to the development of a long-term relationship, not a short-term transactional one.
• It is important to find a way to connect people’s jobs to the final outcome of their work, because many people don’t feel connected to their organization’s main purpose.

Resources Mentioned

• Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations by Dan Ariely
• Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
• Drive by Daniel Pink
• Dan’s website

Related Episodes

• CFL84: Daniel Pink on To Sell is Human
• CFL181: Create the Best Place to Work
• CFL251: What to Do When Somebody Quits
• CFL253: New Management Practices of Leading Organizations
• CFL276: Employee Engagement With Management 3.0

Quick Reads

Russell Crowe Can Say This, But You Shouldn’t: Great advice from past guest David Marquet, who is masterful at helping leaders reframe their language to get better results.

How Wall Street Bro Talk Keeps Women Down: Powerful opinion piece on what really holds women back in organizations — and it’s us men that should be reading it.

13 Things You Should Give Up If You Want To Be Successful: I like all of these, especially #10.

6 Illustrations That Show What It’s Like in an Introvert’s Head: Yep. Nailed it.

Audio

Master Your Workflow with Ryan Soeder: Listener Chris Deferio just launched a podcast called Keys To The Shop. It’s had a fabulous start and the second episode is a great listen for leaders trying to create better systems/workflows for part-time employees.