Daniel H. Pink's Blog, page 31

Kill a bonus, save a company?

Management scholar Henry Mintzberg has a provocative solution to the problem of executive bonuses: Don't trim or tweak them. Get rid of them altogether.

In a persuasive and clear-eyed essay in a special section of the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, Mintzberg says that no matter how you configure bonuses, they create twisted incentives that inevitably enrich executives at the expense of shareholders, customers, and less privileged employees.

It's worth reading the whole thing, but here a...

This one goes to eleven

In honor of today's Ohio State  - Michigan game (You can take the boy out of the midwest, but you can't take the midwest out of the boy. — Ed.), here's one of my favorite examples of negative space.

The backstory:

In the early years of last century, when football helmets were like gloves for the head, ten midwestern universities got together to form an athletic conference. They called it the Big Ten — and the conference became an athletic powerhouse and one of the marquee brands in American...

Factoids of the day: Abundance in America

The U.S. Census Bureau last week released its twice-a-decade look at what it calls "extended measures of well-being" — and the report is a trove of fascinating data. Among the most interesting nuggets:

In 1998, 36% of American households had a cell phone; by 2005, 71% had one. (iIn 1992, the Census Bureau didn't even ask this question because so few Americans had a mobile phone.)

Landline phone ownership dropped from 96% in 1998 to 91% in 2005.
"Householders who were 29 or younger went from...

Are you ready to, uh, Drive?

Truth be told, writing a book doesn't yield many moments of exhilaration. But for me at least, there's always one: When you see your baby for the very first time. That moment always makes me giddy. (And believe me: giddy is an instrument rarely heard in my emotional orchestra.)

So here, for your viewing pleasure, is the very first copy of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us to roll off the presses. As you see, the truth really is surprising.

If you're in the mood to be...

Quote of the Day: Right and wrong

Management theorist Russell Ackoff passed away late last month, leaving behind a lifetime of memorable insights. Here's one of my favorite, reprised in a good WSJ story about Ackoff's life and legacy.

"All of our social problems arise out of doing the wrong thing righter. The more efficient you are at doing the wrong thing, the wronger you become. It is much better to do the right thing wronger than the wrong thing righter! If you do the right thing wrong and correct it, you get better!"

Factoid (and peeve) of the day

During last year's presidential campaign, both McCain and Obama endlessly broadcast ads that promised "good middle class jobs." And whenever an ad intoned that phrase, up popped an image like the one below, which comes from an Obama campaign stop: burly, 50-something (mostly white) guys wearing dirty uniforms.

What drove me crazy about these ads is that this isn't what "good middle class jobs" look like in this country — and hasn't been for about 30 years. For the latest confirmation, check...

Emotionally intelligent subway signage

Rodney Martin send this example of emotionally intelligent signage from — of all places — the New York City subway. Instead of simply issuing an edict about block doors, the sign tries to explain the reason for the rule and maybe stir a few molecules of empathy.

I'm not convinced, this will be effective in the hothouse of underground New York. But as they say, if emotionally intelligent signage can make it here, it can make it anywhere.

Factoid of the day: No (work)place like home

Home-based entrepreneurs "account for more than half of all U.S. businesses and employ more people than venture-backed companies. Jointly, homepreneurs employ one in 10 private-sector workers, or a total of 13 million people."

(Source: Emergent Research via the Kauffman Foundation)

Factoid of the day: Married without children

In a new report, demographer Peter Francese projects that the most prevalent American household in 2010 will be a "married couple with no kids, followed closely by single-person households." The supposedly traditional arrangement — a married couple with children (e.g., the Pinks, the Obamas, the Gosselins) will account for only 22% of American households.

Quote of the Day: No means yes

"Strategy is what you choose not to do."

– Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, with an assist from Michael Porter