Drive: The Surprising Truth About
What Motivates Us (Daniel H. Pink)
Virtual Book Club
Join us for our next installment of our Virtual Book Club! We read a book together every other month--selected based on the ATD Talent Capability Model--and discuss our takeaways and applications for life and work.
Our next book is Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink. In Drive, Pink draws on four decades of scientific research on human motivation to delineate what science tells us from how business operates--typically using the carrot-and-stick approach to motivation--and why that misses the mark on what really motivates us. He asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.
In this book, you'll learn:
1) The Three Elements of Motivation – True motivation is built on three factors:
- Autonomy – The desire to direct our own lives.
- Mastery – The urge to improve and become better at something meaningful.
- Purpose – The need to contribute to a greater cause beyond ourselves.
2)
Why Traditional Rewards Can Backfire – Using external rewards (like bonuses or grades) to drive behavior can reduce creativity, decrease long-term motivation, and even encourage unethical behavior. This is known as the “overjustification effect,” where external rewards undermine internal motivation.
3) How to Create a Motivating Environment – Organizations and leaders can boost motivation by designing workplaces that offer autonomy, encourage continuous learning, and align work with a deeper sense of purpose. This approach leads to higher engagement, innovation, and job satisfaction.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CST
Members: FREE
Non-Members: $10
Facilitator:
Karen Baird is a seasoned professional with experience in career development, academic communications and marketing, and workforce training, and is passionate about helping individuals become lifelong learners by adopting a strategy of growth-focused career development and organizations succeed by investing in talent development. Her experience spans higher education, publishing, healthcare, nonprofits, and life sciences startups.
Karen developed her interest in organizational and talent development through a decade of work at MIT where she honed skills via projects including employee engagement and retention initiatives, developing and facilitating onboarding programs, and student career development.
Karen holds certifications in Conflict Management Training from Conflict Resolution@MIT, Talent Optimization from Predictive Index, Instructional Design from ATD, and Social Media Marketing from Boston University. She is a Yellow Belt in the globally recognized Six Sigma methodology where practitioners focus on continual process improvement and is currently pursuing her APTD Certification from ATD. Karen earned her B.A. in English from Columbia College and an M.A. in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College. In her free time, Karen enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, reading, dancing, swimming, and playing ukulele.
