What motivates us? How can we leverage our motivation toward our goals and our team goals? How can we design a workplace that encourages intrinsically motivated work?

Pink argues that intrinsic motivation is formed of 3 parts: Autonomy, Purpose, and (opportunity for) Mastery. Extrinsic motivation (carrot/stick) is fine for rote tasks where no creativity is needed, but information/knowledge workers require creative thinking that can only be encouraged in an organization which provides Autonomy, Purpose, and (opportunity for) Mastery for its workers. Extrinsic motivators are not only unhelpful for knowledge workers, they're actually harmful. Pink shares research that shows that critical and creative thinking is slowed when monetary rewards (carrots) or time limits (sticks) are given. Carrots and sticks sharpen focus on narrow-thinking, which only works for rote/routine tasks. The bulk of the book is taken up by analyzing the three concepts of Autonomy, Purpose, and Mastery more fully and describing the workplace that offers opportunities for these. He spares a chapter at the end for applying them to other areas of life: fitness, parenting, etc.

I listened to this audiobook, and it's a good audiobook. I returned to it on drives to professional development, and I brought it out on runs and time at the gym. I plan to purchase the hardcopy so I can revisit some of the concepts in more depth.