It seems obvious but Dan Pink makes it interesting in this 2009 TED talk (also embedded inside): extrinsic incentives work great for certain situations but poorly for others of higher complexity. His other point, that there’s a “mismatch between what science knows and what business does”, is also important… but trying to bridge this gap can lead to information overload and a certain “consultant-driven” frenzy, if managers try to cover all the “buzzwords” for fear of missing out on the latest (supposedly) performance-enhancing method.
Framing the question in another way: know your work/ company/ business well before assuming you need to “Blink”-fy, “Long-Tail”-fy or “whatever-fy” it. The attitude of not “marrying” with any idea – not even your own – and trying to extract and apply the useful part of every bit of knowledge you obsessively seek is a hard one to instill, let alone sustain.
Here’s the link to the working paper by Dan Ariely et. al. that Dan Pink mentions in the video.
Video:
Tags: danariely, danpink, foodforthought, incentives, motivation
