(Image credit: Mohamed Nohassi/Unsplash Images) I was curious to see the results of an AI search on “How to motivate employees.” As someone who’s devoted her career to applying empirically sound motivation science, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Still, I was dismayed by the amount of misinformation and never-proven motivation practices.  I find it fascinating how we painstakingly analyze and interpret all kinds of big data. Still, when it comes to motivation — the most foundational aspect of human behavior — we rely on outdated science and questionable anecdotal evidence

I’ve always been fascinated by unexpectedly fruitful friendships throughout history. Take the bond between Albert Einstein and Henry Ford that teaches us the value of mentoring. Or how a cross-generational creative collaboration like the one between the late great Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga can keep you relevant. (I even appreciate how photos of unlikely long-term companionship between animal species remind us how the need to belong transcends differences.) Recently I was surprised to discover that two men whose philosophies I’ve compared and contrasted for years to help explain modern motivation science had a relationship where

As a kid one summer, I captured grasshoppers in a glass jar. I was transfixed watching the mechanics of them jump. I remember the ping as they flung themselves against the tin lid I’d punched holes in so they could breathe. Before going to bed, not wanting to wake up to a jarful of dead grasshoppers, I removed the lid, fully expecting them to hop to freedom. But the oddest thing happened. They could pop right out, but they only jumped as high as the lid had been before I

Warren Buffet regards WD-40 Co. as a brand with one of the best competitive moats on the planet — meaning it can fend off competition and maintain profitability into the future. Most people assume that WD-40’s success is the product’s secret formula. And they are right.  But Chairman Emeritus Garry Ridge believes it’s the company’s other secret formula that guided them to a market cap that’s grown from $300 million to $2.5 billion and exceeded the performance of the Russell 2000 Index and S&P by a long shot. Garry reveals that

“You can’t motivate someone else — motivation is an inside job” is a widely accepted leadership axiom. So why do managers keep trying to motivate people from the outside in? Why do they attempt to manipulate behavior by incentivizing goals with tangible and intangible rewards? Why do they praise, hand out tokens and award badges to drive good behavior, hoping to perpetuate it?  And when leaders run out of carrots (or people get tired of them), why resort to the stick? Why apply pressure, instill fear and make threats (often

Motivation is at the heart of everything people do (and don’t do). This truth begs a question: As a leader are you focused on honing your motivational leadership skills? Or, like so many managers, are you still held accountable for leadership competencies rooted in outdated command-and-control, leader-centric, and carrot-and-stick management theories at odds with what we know about human motivation?  Are you pushed to drive for results? Find people’s motivational hot buttons? Incentivize behavior with money, rewards, praising, tokens and badges?  A far more effective approach to workplace motivation exists,

Coping with radical change is taxing. For people to thrive rather than merely survive requires complex processing, reflection, learning — and psychological sense.  Psychological sense™ is a person’s ability to fulfill their foundational psychological needs so they can experience optimal motivation, sustained high performance, and a state of thriving. When people unlock their psychological sense, they fulfill their foundational need for choice, connection and competence that generates optimal motivation. The vitality created through optimal motivation is essential for all of us to adapt to change with resilience and innovation, achieve

Procrastination is more than a symptom of bad time management. You might not be surprised that procrastination is linked to depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness and reduced life satisfaction. But a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA) online network in January 2023 relates procrastinating with severe mental health problems, disabling pain, unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, worse psychosocial health factors — and even cardiovascular disease. The bad news is that procrastination is bad for your health. The other bad news is how lifestyle experts jump in with tactics