Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

In Dan Pink's TED Talk on motivation and in his book Drive , he talks and writes about the science of motivation.  There are three drivers of motivation.  Autonomy Mastery Purpose When we have these three things in play, procrastination is an after thought.  However, the Hawthorne Effect says that motivation can occur simply by being observed.  It's probably not exactly same thing, but I know that my motivation to perform better at certain sports increased when I knew that I was being watched or evaluated. So which is it?  As employees of companies, do we perform better if we are being observed or do we perform better if we have complete  autonomy to do what we want to do? Unfortunately, when we feel we are being watched too closely we call that voyeurism "micromanagement." If we feel that we aren't being watched closely enough, then we feel that we aren't being appreciated. Employees are a fickle bunch and this is w...

"You have to make it rain!"  Any leadership position in a professional services firm requires that you have the ability to sell.  Depending on what type of firm you are in, the selling style types can range from that of a used car salesman to drug dealer to trusted advisor.  And to confirm what Daniel Pink alludes to in To Sell is Human , the perception of a person in sales is predominantly that of the slick used car salesman.  Why is that the case?  The answer lies in incentives. Salespeople  get compensated on quick fixes.  Quick fixes are solved through commissions.  The quicker you can close a transaction or deal, the sooner you get paid. It fosters superficial relationships and a lack of loyalty between seller and buyer. In addition, you don't have to be smart to be this kind of salesman. You simply have to be selfish,  narcissistic, and manipulative. Being good looking also helps.  What most people don't understand i...

In Dan Pink's book, Drive , he describes a  theory of motivation that identifies 3 main drivers - autonomy (our innate need to direct our own lives), mastery (learning and creating new things), and purpose (do better by ourselves and our world).  If I described an environment where you could show up to work when you wanted, leave when you wanted, talk to whoever you wanted (within reason of course), and had no rules or processes to be held accountable to - do you think you would be happy? Before you answer, the best part is that you are getting paid to work there.  I would have to believe that you would say, "Hell yeah! The place you describe sounds awesome!"  The only problem with this is that, as my Ops professor used to repeat in each class, "Structure determines behavior." A lack of structure leads to the proverbial inmates running the asylum- or something worse - inmates getting stuck or lost.  The allure of autonomy is attractive to everyone. But ...