Ted Talk Notes
#1 Daniel Pink: The Candle Problem experimenter gives subjects candle, thumbtacks, matches. Put candle on the wall. Put tack box on wall to hold candle. Add timing into the experiment: offer rewards
(money). How much faster? 3.5 minutes longer. Incentive didn’t work. Never has worked.
Findings are largely ignored. MISMATCH BETWEEN SCIENCE AND BUSINESS.
In the 21st century, reward/punishment doesn’t work. Take the tacks out of the box: make it way easier. Incentivized group worked better in simplified experiment. Conceptual work doesn’t improve with incentive.
Mechanical skills: bonus works, higher payer, higher performance
Conceptual skills: Bonus doesn’t work, higher pay, lower performance
HIGHER INCENTIVES=WORSE PERFORMANCE
Need a new approach: autonomy, mastery, purpose
Autonomy management works for compliance, self direction works for everything else. Take money off the table, give them autonomy. FEDEX days you have to deliver something overnight.
By giving autonomy for periods of time (20%, 24 hours, etc.) work is better. Work is faster, more ingenuity. ROWE Results only work environment. No set schedule. Productivity goes up, engagement goes up, everything goes well. Wikipedia model intrinsic motivation wins. SCIENCE extrinsic motivators destroy creativity, the drive to do things because they matter helps productivity, autonomy is great (studies show intrinsic rewards work, extrinsic rewards don’t work.) #2 Nancy Etcoff (Why do you believe the rates of happiness are flat, but the rates of depression and anxiety are rising?) We are wired to pursue happiness. We will try everything But depression and anxiety are rising Freud was an asshole. Thought everyone should be miserable. Negativity is baaaaad.
Happiness and unhappiness aren’t endpoints on one continuum. Happiness isn’t the absence of misery. Reward system dopamine Pleasure system oxytocin Smiles are crazy. Biophilia
(money). How much faster? 3.5 minutes longer. Incentive didn’t work. Never has worked.
Findings are largely ignored. MISMATCH BETWEEN SCIENCE AND BUSINESS.
In the 21st century, reward/punishment doesn’t work. Take the tacks out of the box: make it way easier. Incentivized group worked better in simplified experiment. Conceptual work doesn’t improve with incentive.
Mechanical skills: bonus works, higher payer, higher performance
Conceptual skills: Bonus doesn’t work, higher pay, lower performance
HIGHER INCENTIVES=WORSE PERFORMANCE
Need a new approach: autonomy, mastery, purpose
Autonomy management works for compliance, self direction works for everything else. Take money off the table, give them autonomy. FEDEX days you have to deliver something overnight.
By giving autonomy for periods of time (20%, 24 hours, etc.) work is better. Work is faster, more ingenuity. ROWE Results only work environment. No set schedule. Productivity goes up, engagement goes up, everything goes well. Wikipedia model intrinsic motivation wins. SCIENCE extrinsic motivators destroy creativity, the drive to do things because they matter helps productivity, autonomy is great (studies show intrinsic rewards work, extrinsic rewards don’t work.) #2 Nancy Etcoff (Why do you believe the rates of happiness are flat, but the rates of depression and anxiety are rising?) We are wired to pursue happiness. We will try everything But depression and anxiety are rising Freud was an asshole. Thought everyone should be miserable. Negativity is baaaaad.
Happiness and unhappiness aren’t endpoints on one continuum. Happiness isn’t the absence of misery. Reward system dopamine Pleasure system oxytocin Smiles are crazy. Biophilia