I got my first computer when I was 11. Because it had so little memory, I had to learn how to program in assembly in order to make it do what I wanted, which I was doing by 13. Two years later, I took "Introduction to Computer Science" in grade 10.
I almost failed the class (54%, if you must know).
When I was writing computer programs (well, OK, games) for myself, I would work feverishly for hours (well, OK, months) and produce work that was at least eight years ahead of my grade level without any instruction. When it was assigned to me as homework, I could barely bring myself to even look at it.
Three years following that, I almost failed Psychology 101, then developed a personal interest in it 20 years
later. I've been inhaling dozens of books on the subject for last year, and
probably have a Masters-level grasp of the field at this point. A grasp that will, at most, contribute only vaguely to how I make a living.
I have to be careful writing this review of Drive, because it advocates many ideas with which I agree. Emphatically. It could be the worse book ever written, but I will still love it.
The basic idea is that businesses and other social institutions have largely failed to recognize that people are motivated by more than just carrots (pay-for-performance, applause, etc.) and sticks (fines, reprimands, etc.). That people do their best work for intrinsic reasons, i.e., reasons that have nothing to do with external (i.e., carrot and stick) motivators. Reasons like achieving mastery of a discipline, or gaining a sense of purpose, for example.
The knee-jerk response by many managers, teachers, etc. is that this sounds nice, but is touchy-feely stuff that doesn't work in the real world. Pink then reviews 40 years of research evidence from an array of disciplines showing that carrot/stick environments consistently yield lower productivity and higher turnover, not to mention employee misery. He explains it far better than this in his entertaining, 18-minute TED talk. But buy the book -the extra detail and actionable lists are well worth it.
I've been following much of Dan's advice my entire life, so it won't change much about the way I work or play. My current company is based on an idea that I pursued out of purely personal interest, and the company itself has been ROWE from day one.
The difference is that, before reading Drive, I had no idea what ROWE was. Before reading Drive, I wasn't aware of the mountains of research that showed that being intrinsically-motivated is actually a mostly good thing. I've always believed that it was, but that belief was challenged almost daily for at least the first half of my life.
Like Dan, being intrinsically-motivated also meant that I did not respond well to extrinsic motivators. Like grades. Or money. (I do like applause, though...) Doing things that don't interest me or for which I don't see the purpose has always been a struggle, and has occasionally earned me assessments such as lazy, undisciplined, unfocused and even learning-delayed. Every report card I ever got had the same thing in the comment field: "Not working to potential."
I produced some pretty crappy work early in my working life because I didn't think that it was necessary, or that it was being done as efficiently as it could be. Thankfully, I discovered entrepreneurship and the work I've produced since then has been remarkably better. (In fact, come to think of it, Drive is the best explanation what makes entrepreneurs tick that I've yet come across. If you're an entrepreneur and someone asks you why the Hell you're doing what you're doing, give them this book.)
So I guess that's what I got from this book. A powerful affirmation that it's OK (and even desirable) to be intrinsically motivated, despite the bumps in the road that this can entail. (A more detailed discussion of the bumps would have been interesting, though... a "Being a Type I in a Type X world" chapter, maybe.)
The writing itself is the kind that's so good that you don't notice how good it is. Potentially dry, hard-to-follow concepts are laid out with seemingly effortless clarity, and often humour (Canadian, eh?). Having read a number of "more advanced" books about related topics, I still gained new insights because of the superior presentation of the same research.
Depending on whether you're a more intrinsically- or extrinsically-motivated person, you'll probably read this book from very different perspectives, but you'll almost certainly get a lot out of it.
