In this 2009 TED Conference presentation Daniel Pink examines motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most leaders don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think.
Motivation 3.0 for the Christian Leader
I grew up in a time when church frequently included special gospel meetings that featured a guest preacher imploring nightly over the course of a week to get right and reap the rewards of heaven or certainly go to hell. We were encouraged to invite our friends and neighbors where every night the message and volume would escalate until a satisfactory number had responded to avoid the punishment of hell. Unfortunately, the fear motivated responses rarely resulted in life-long change, many left the church quickly never to return.
As I read Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us it struck me that we have built a church, family, and work culture based on an inferior motivational model. In a sense, our churches are stuck in a 20th century when such practices were the norm, but fall short with today’s generation. Because we were raised in this environment most of today’s leaders are just modeling what we know.
Pink presents a compelling case for a deeper method of personal, peer, and subordinate motivation. He contends that human motivation has evolved from a basic needs model, to a “carrot and stick” model, and as he proposes, a more stable intrinsic motivation model. In modern vernacular he labels these models in the style of a progressive human operating system upgrade: Motivation 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.
John P. Kotter Leadership Definition
Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles
From John P. Kotter’s book Leading Change
Leadership Definition
Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration, motivated by a passion, generated by a vision, produced by a conviction, and ignited by a purpose.
As defined at a Diversity Champions Workshop by Guardian Quest
List of Ten Things We Want Most in Life
- Opportunity to succeed (43%)
- The good life (37%)
- The pursuit of happiness (34%)
- The American dream (22%)
- A fair shake (17%)
- To be left alone (13%)
- A fresh start (9%)
- Everything I can get (9%)
- A fighting chance (8%)
- A new beginning (8%)
The American dream has been dropping on the list because young people don’t think they will ever achieve it. Wanting the good life has moved up in its place.
Source: Dr Frank Luntz, Luntz-Malansky Strategic Research 2009
List of Ten Trust Behaviors
- Communicate. Clearly let others know what you and they can expect
- Listen. Listen more than you talk
- Follow-through. Keep your promises and expectations
- Own-up. When you or a subordinate fall short take personal accountability
- Trust. You have to trust others for them to trust you
- Respect. Respect others regardless of their position
- WYSIWYG. Be a what you see is what you get person
- Loyalty. Be loyal to others and they will trust you
- Empathize. Good or bad put yourself in their shoes
- Recognize. Remember the small thing
Prepare for the Warrior
There comes a point in everyone’s life when they determine the veracity of their character. Some may think they know, but not until pressed by hardship, fear or heartache will they really know. All other times are spent in preparation. When the moment of trial comes will you be irrelevant, expendable, a fighter, or a warrior?
“Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn’t even be there, Eighty are just targets, Nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.” – Hericletus, circa 500 BC
Prepare to be a fighter and the leader will become a warrior when most needed. Anything less is a wasted opportunity to matter.
The Boyfriend Driving Test
It’s usually a truck or sometimes an older car. The inside of the vehicles are decorated with a mixture of ironic photographs and/or action figures. The drivers are the same mixture of common individuality, sporting spotty facial hair, trendy clothing (or sloppy), and a forced expression of interest. And I’m supposed to be good with placing one of my prized possessions into their care.
If you’re the father of teenage girls you are familiar with the struggle, if your daughters are too young to date you will be familiar. The struggle we all face is how to balance the inevitability of dating with the honest desire to never let your precious girl out of the house…ever. My solution: the boyfriend driving test.
Before a new boy can take responsibility for my daughter’s safety they must pass a no kiddin’ driver’s test during which the boy and I (alone) drive a test route complete with turns, merges, highway driving, and attention tests. The driving is really a secondary goal, primarily the test accomplishes several, things chief among them: let the boy know who i am (I’m pretty big but that doesn’t matter), that I care deeply for my daughters, and to give me a platform for “the talk.” The driver test goes down like this:
- Meet the boy and get in the passenger seat making a big show of buckling the safety belt. NOTE: If the boy doesn’t get out of the vehicle to meet you make sure to point that out.
- Explain the route and what you expect out of the test…start driving
- Start with small talk and see how distracted they are…what do you do? are you in athletics? do you go to church? etc.
- Halfway through the test start with the harder questions: Do you drink alcohol? Do your friends? How do you treat girls?
- Right before the end of the test, when he is really starting to squirm, start “the talk.” You will know how to craft your talk, mine goes something like this:
“[Boy] I want you to know something, my daughter is precious to me, I take great pride in her and her safety. Throughout her life I have taken the awesome responsibility for her safety very seriously. When you pick her up I am transferring that responsibility temporarily to you, I expect you to take the responsibility as seriously as I do. If you’re thinking you have to do something to impress her stop that thinking, she is already impressed or she wouldn’t have agreed to a date. There is no need to speed, peel out, or take curves too fast. Most people like to go the speed limit plus 5 mph because the police give a cushion…I expect the opposite, drive 2-5 mph UNDER the speed limit.
You will tell me where you are going and what you are doing, if you deviate from your schedule I expect a call from you. You will return her to the house exactly on time unless you have to speed to get her there. If you will be late you will call and let me know, and I will give you a grace period so you do not have to speed to get her home.
[NOTE: The severity of this next part depends on how much of a jerk the boy seems to be] Should you not take your safety responsibility seriously and put my daughter at risk or God forbid hurt her, I will not be happy and you WILL suffer the wrath of my displeasure.”
I’ve never failed a boy during the driving test but have come close. My favorite statement during a test so far is, “My mom is very strict on my driving, this is only the third time she has let me drive on the highway alone.” These types of statements don’t inspire confidence, but with the right focus during “the talk” will help mitigate concerns, but they will never go away.
It’s important to note that my daughters say they hate the boyfriend driving test, but it’s apparent they love that I care enough to keep them safe. When a boy asks them out they know to inform them about the driving test. They have figured out that the ones who refuse to take it are not boy’s they want to be with…
Good luck and I will pray for you.
Manager and Leader
The manager administers, the leader innovates
The manager maintains, the leader develops
The manager relies on systems, the leader relies on people
The manager counts on controls, the leader counts on trust
The manager does things right, the leader does the right thing
– Fortune Magazine
There is some debate about the attributes of leaders and those of managers. Some interchange the titles making any leader also a manger and manager leader. Everyone has an opinion based on their job description, corporate culture, personal preference, and so on.
My belief is that anyone in a position to influence people is both leader and manager. Lower level positions will manage more than they lead, perhaps 60% management/40% leadership. The higher you climb in your organization the more leadership competencies used; a CEO might be 20% manager/80% leader.
The leader who can balance the appropriate level of management skills while leading subordinates through vision, innovation, and trust is the catalyst for organizational excellence, regardless of their position on the corporate ladder.