I just finished Dan Ariely's new book PAYOFF and, as some of you might know, I love listening to book on Audible.

"My work is my job, but it is also my hobby and my identity and my life. Aside from a few moments when I sneeze and when I have an orgasm I am constantly thinking of human nature. I love this life" (Dan Ariely)

Here are my notes:

• Acknowledgement is a human magic. People get motivated simply by the acknowledgement of their efforts
• Cancelled project = demotivation. What could have happened differently? "The CEO could have asked us to present to the company the lessons learned during our efforts"
• Cross functional teams link to what Dan Ariely said when he talks about Adam Smith's division of labour to increase productivity.
• People underestimate the power of meaning to the work we do
• Cubicles and company hierarchy kill motivation
• Employee sense of individuality motivates people (Zappos example)
• "The joy of even thinking that we are making something"
• The IKEA effect - the fondness we have for things that we built
• Origami creators are willing to pay 5 times more for the work that they created than others - correlation with Domino's Pizza Mogul - Prosumer - Prosumidor
• We are strongly motivated by:
  • identity
  • need for recognition
  • sense of accomplishment
  • feeling of creation
• Zappos
  • Employees as individuals
  • If someone is struggling, they can work with a coach
  • Encourage connections. They meet and exchange ideas
  • Employees can do anything to "wow" customers
  • Nobody takes customer calls using a script
  • "Create fun and a little weirdness"
• The creating consumer (link to Pizza Mogul)
  • Customised nike shoes
  • M&M's let you pick your colours
  • "A desire to customise" - Customisation makes the products a bit more "ours"
• Home Sweat Home - the sauna construction story
• Kids and Ideas
  • "Tommy just told me the best story..."
  • "I have the best story... " - "That was MY story..."
• The greatest customisation project of all - raising our children
  • Kids for sale - WIllingness to sell/buy - Endowment effect - Priceless!
  • The effort we put gives us meaning, the work itself rewards us
  • The lesson is that a little sweat equity pays us with meaning
• Money is from mars, Pizza is from Venus and Compliments are from Jupiter
  • Why money matters far less than what we think
  • What kinds of external rewards motivate people?
  • What's the best way to train, manage and retain people?
  • Intangible and tangible benefits
  • Payment for performance often misses the point
  • Large bonuses reduced productivity (in lab experiment)
  • Knowledge workers' output can't be easily measured
  • Intel experiment
    • Monetary bonus - Worst incentive. Performance declined after the bonus
    • Pizza Voucher
    • A text message saying "well done" - Best performance. Increased engagement even when there was no text message reward
    • No notes, no bonus
    • HR Managers thought money would work best and the message would work best
  • Intrinsic and Extrinsict factors
    • Excercisng: more intrinsic
    • We are not good predictors of what will motivate us.
    • We overestimate extrinsic motivators and underestimate the intrinsic ones
  • "Well done" = Gratitude and Reciprocity
  • Business and Social relationships
  • We have to explore motivational forces that provide meaning and connection
  • Mood has an immense effect - e.g. team building activities
  • Investment in wellbeing, personal growth and career path don't garantee long term employment, but they change the timeframe of the commitment to a longer one
• In the knowledge economy the workplace relies heavily on trust, engagement and good will. As the autonomy of each person increases so does the importance of making everyone deeply connected to the enterprise
• Improving a process, helping others and thinking brilliant thoughts are examples uncountable dimensions of productivity
• The exchange of trust and good will is an important and inherent part of human motivation
• Which reward motivates more?
  • Hug, thank you and family dinner?
  • Or a calculated financial reward?
• Lawyers predict low porobabitly events, which might look like accusations.
• Dug Connent who handwrote 30 thousand thank you notes
• Symbolic immortality. A lawyer called John Jacobs was buried with his active cell phone so his wife could call him. We all feel a craving of our afterlife contributions. How would you feel if everything you did was erased without a trace after your death? Would you change anything the way you live today?
• The "42" of Motivation
  • Motivation is such a complex topic that we can't provide one simple answer to it. It is intricate and misterious. But here are some lessons:
  • Money isn't the simple motivator that some assume it to be.
  • Some times we become killers of motivation when we ignore, criticise, disregard or destroy the work of others
  • We're driven by emotional forces:
    • Sense of connection and meaning
    • Meaning is not always the same as happiness
  • The journey to understand the thousands of strange and wonderful nuances of Motivation is interesting, important and useful, it brings more productivity, love and Meaning... now that's Motivating.

What about you? Did you read the book too? Share your notes, comments with me.