Change Agent

While the book does cover the current major theories on successful motivation concepts and techniques well, I felt a good portion of the book was just a re-hashing of other popular motivation tomes. I am really not knocking Drive, while it is entertaining, my take that the book is more an executive overview. There are enough clear explanations, case studies, and references to bring your boss up to speed on what the successful companies are doing.

What I feel is missing was more coverage for techniques or examples on taking on the dysfunctional organization (the vast majority of companies we all work for) and showing some baby-steps to re-introduce or change management thinking on motivation. As an example, the author shows that individual Autonomy is one of the critical elements of motivation (along with Mastery and sense of Purpose). Experience shows that micro-managing is unknowingly used under the guise of providing a framework for employee Autonomy -a manager limits the choices or options with the intent to free up creativity when in reality this approach shuts down the ability to explore and frame creativity, thus strangling motivation. Many leaders with good intentions are falling back to controlling habits. What a manager may consider moving folks towards a level of mastery, will be different from what you or I consider mastery as we use these skills regularly to perform our jobs.  A case of intentions not matching reality.

A final positive (or negative?) point is that when you compare these concepts to your own job, don’t be surprised if you experience anger and frustration in thinking just how oppressed and downtrodden we are. If your life/job/vocation was so perfect you would not be reading such books. While it is a good sign that you need to make changes, the book’s purpose is to raise awareness and such ideas will take time to be practiced effectivly in business.