Bringing Volunteering Back!

I am reading a fascinating book called Management Rewired (http://www.amazon.com/Management-Rewired-Feedback-Surprising-Lessons/dp/159184262X) which applies new findings in cognitive science to management. Yesterday on the train home from New York I read a chapter that blew me away. Studies show that people are not motivated by money (or deterred by punishment). If you try to get children to stop eating sweets by threatening them, they will not learn to stay out of the cookie jar but rather to cleverly avoid getting caught! If you incentivize people by paying them extra money, they will eventually come to expect the money and believe that is what the job is worth. They may even start enjoying the work less as the extra extrinsic motivation (the money) suppresses the intrinsic one (their personal love for the work). Buddhist “mind science” would not find these discoveries surprising, but I did. They have some profound implications. The most interesting to me is that, maybe to really love doing something, you need to do it for free! Since extrinsic motivation suppresses intrinsic motivation, maybe the best way to love something intrinsically is to remove extrinsic motivation entirely. In other words, volunteering – the Intent focus for the week – is the path to intrinsic happiness. Just don’t tell my clients this or they may suggest I release yet more love for my work. ; )