Brian Mathis <[email protected]> writes: > Additionally, you might be surprised to find out that what you are > doing is actually counterproductive. Offering more money for certain > things you are causing the quality of the work to decline. This TED > video explains exactly what I'm talking about. I strongly urge you to > watch it: > http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html
I read his book... the thing of it is, money is the only /honest/ way a corporation can communicate respect or "I value you" and he completely misses that point. your social interactions with your superiors are coloured with money. The middle-manager likes you because he's paid to like you. (I mean, yeah, he might /actually/ like you and he might not, but either way, he's paid to be your friend and mentor.) I guess some people like having paid for friends rather than cash, but especially for those of us who are a little more cynical, the 'pat on the back' doesn't feel real unless it comes with a raise. > However, you're off track here by thinking it has something to do with > him building his resume (that would be an external motivator). No one > thinks like that on a day-to-day basis. He is finding the value in > your respect and teaching of him, not some vague future promise of > looking better on paper to someone in an HR department. Resume > building is important, but it's not a motivator. You are very likely right about my SysAdmin... Much like you are doing with me, I'm making the mistake of trying to explain other people's behavior by putting myself in their shoes. It's a very tempting way to explain other people's behavior. but that is how I think, and probably how most Entrepreneurs think. If 'enough' money is 'enough' then we'd not be taking a large chance at having not enough for a small chance at having a lot more than enough. > > On the other hand, my brother, who is in a similar place in his career, and > > who is also pretty bright is almost as mercenary as I am. He's /very/ > > interested in any double pay hours, and not all that interested in > > work at the regular rate. > > As you will see in the TED video I posted above, you both may be doing > a disservice to yourselves and your customers by focusing so much on > the money aspect. They are probably not getting the best from you, > and you are probably not giving your best. Different things motivate different people. Words from a guy in a suit don't motivate me, because I recognize he's just saying what he's paid to say. the actual cash you give me, I think, is a much better indicator of what you actually think of my work. The big problem with Pink's work was that he seems to think that altruistic actions on a corporations part are very important, but he also thinks that being genuine is also important. It's hard enough for an individual to come off as genuinely altruistic... and completely impossible for a corporation. To some extent, a corporation needs to choose to be seen as an altruist or to be seen as honest. > Racking up hours and making money is important, but if that's truly > your only motivation, your work life will feel hollow and draining. > As you are a business owner, I would bet that your real internal > motivation is creating and running the business, and the money aspect > is simply feedback that you are doing that successfully. Eh, maybe... I think it's more likely that you haven't worked around many entrepreneurs (ether that, or the entrepreneurs you are around like to present themselves as altruists... personally, I am a little bit suspicious of people who claim to have primarily altruistic motivations... I mean, sure, sometimes they do. But my initial reaction is a little bit of skepticism. I'm outright distrustful of businesses and businesspeople who claim to have altruistic motivations.) I don't mind if you hate me, or even if you are in a zero-sum situation with me, where for one of us to win, the other has to lose. Give me honesty, and we can do business. Without honesty? not so much. Honesty requires some rudeness, and some cynicism. Honesty requires admitting greed and incompetence. But, like I said, different people are motivated by different things. some people like the obviously bought friendship of the salesman (I am quite often willing to pay /more/ to avoid dealing with salespeople. I'm getting better about it- I have to, as I scale, there are more parts that are only available thorough sales people.) Business owners might say they are motivated by other stuff... but you know what? if that were true, it'd be a hobby, not a business. I mean, money isn't everything... for instance, winning the lottery wouldn't do much for me, because yeah, it doesn't say anything about me. It'd be empty money. but almost everything I've done in my career has been focused on making mysef /better/ - Yeah, when I was younger I was willing to accept a lower wage for interesting jobs so I could move up later. A lot of why I've become an entrepreneur is that at current SysAdmin rates, I've only got about 30% headroom between what I was paid last time I worked for someone else, and the best paid (non-management or owner) sysadmin I know, and if I'm not making 30% more in three years, the way I see it, I'm stagnating. Maybe you think it's stupid, and maybe it is... some people spend their lives building empires in 'eve online' - hell, I know a guy who has better accounting for his 'eve online' game than I have for my real business... but the reward mechanism is very similar. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
