How long does it take to read Drive?

The reading time for Drive varies depending on the reader's speed. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

Who is the author of Drive?

The author of Drive is Daniel Pink.

Motivation & Inspiration

Drive Book Summary - Drive Book explained in key points

Listen to the Intro

00:00

Drive summary

Name: Drive
Rating: 4.6 (739 reviews)
Author: Daniel Pink

Daniel H. Pink

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

4.6 (739 ratings)

23 mins

Brief summary

Drive (New Version) by Daniel Pink is a motivational book that challenges traditional beliefs about motivation. It showcases research that shows how people are motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose – not just rewards and punishments. It offers practical tips for fostering motivation in yourself and others.

Topics

Culture Success International Economics

Table of Contents

Drive
Summary of 7 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Learn about the benefits of intrinsic motivation.

You might have heard the term intrinsic motivation before. It’s the idea that people engage in an activity not because someone forces them to, but because they actually want to. Maybe they simply enjoy what they do or find it personally rewarding. In any case, the motivation is internal. It’s personal. There isn’t an outside source influencing anything through material rewards or punishments.

But while intrinsic motivation sounds – and is – wonderful, in many organizations it’s simply not the reality. There’s not enough passion or inherent satisfaction driving workers in their jobs. Extrinsic motivation, or reward-driven behavior, still reigns supreme.

But why is this? Do we just not enjoy what we’re doing, or is there something more to it? This is the question we’ll be aiming to answer in this Blink to Daniel Pink’s Drive.

The discovery of intrinsic motivation

In 1949, a professor of psychology called Harry Harlow gave eight Rhesus monkeys a mechanical puzzle. Their assignment was to pull out a pin and lift a hinge – not exactly what you’d call an easy task for a monkey. Harlow expected that the monkeys wouldn’t concern themselves with it. After all, the experiment was set up so that the primates wouldn’t receive any reward – neither food nor praise – for solving the puzzle. Surprisingly, the monkeys still gave it a go. They recognized how the puzzle worked, and they solved it. What’s more, they seemed to actually be enjoying themselves!

To the researcher, this came as a big surprise. Until then, there had only been two possible explanations for such behavior: nature and external incentives. But nature clearly wasn’t at work here – solving a puzzle isn’t part of the eat-drink-procreate equation. There weren’t any external incentives present either. So, somehow, there seemed to be a mysterious third kind of drive.

Enter intrinsic motivation – or, as Pink calls it, Motivation 3.0. It sounds a bit like an app you can download, right? It’s actually called this because Pink sees the three different types of drives as a historical sequence that describes how the way we work has evolved. Let’s take a look at each.

Around 50,000 years ago, mankind was preoccupied with its own survival and driven by Motivation 1.0: the search for food and drink, a safe place to rest at night, and the desire to reproduce and pass on genes. Up until a few centuries ago, these basic needs were the main driving force of humanity.
Then, during the age of industrialization, production cycles became more complex, and people started to rely increasingly on a new impetus for productivity: extrinsic motivation, or Motivation 2.0. This is based on the incentives of reward and punishment – also known as “the carrot and the stick.” The thinking here is that rewards reinforce desirable behavior, while punishment prevents undesirable behavior. During industrialization, this was actually effective – at least to some degree. With the prospect of higher wages in mind, laborers hauled more coal; and when threatened with dismissal for stealing materials, they were less likely to take anything from the workplace.
The problem with version 2.0 is that workers who aren’t driven by the consequences of the carrot or the stick fundamentally have no enthusiasm for their work and will try to shirk any responsibility. Therefore, those in management positions must direct and supervise them. That’s bad news for today’s knowledge economy, which needs autonomous workers. With the carrot and the stick, you can force a worker to show up every day, stay for eight hours, and perform simple tasks. But you can’t force anyone to be curious, creative, and innovative. Instead, you can cater to someone’s intrinsic motivation – you can make them want to be curious, creative, and innovative. And that’s why Pink believes we have to upgrade our economy to Motivation 3.0.

The power of intrinsic motivation

Motivation 3.0 is a tremendously powerful tool. If given the opportunity, intrinsically motivated people make their own decisions on when they work best, what exactly they should work on, and how they should do it. They take responsibility. And they don’t need to be directed or rewarded all the time because they actually enjoy doing the work.

You probably know what this feels like from your own work, a hobby, or playing sports: sometimes you’re so immersed in an activity that you forget the world around you.

Intrinsic motivation trumps extrinsic motivation.

Do you know where to find true masters of intrinsic motivation? On the playground. This is what children do best – demonstrate great dedication toward small goals. They romp about with curiosity and sample everything possible, all in an attempt to understand the world. They employ their hands, mouth, eyes, and ears with pleasure. Children are intrinsically motivated to a high degree. They love the process of learning . . . as long as they don’t call it “learning.”

But over the years, they change; their urge to search for challenges and novelties lessens. So what happens to their motivation? Well, let’s turn to science. In a nursery experiment, children were asked to produce a drawing. Some children were told they’d receive a certificate for completing their drawing, while others weren’t told anything. When both groups were asked to draw again – this time with neither group being promised a reward – the children who had previously received a certificate no longer wanted to draw. But those who hadn’t received any special recognition did. The promised recognition had destroyed the first group’s intrinsic motivation; they’d learned to draw only for a reward.

It’s time for a revolution.

Let’s recap. Extrinsic motivation can be effective in the case of routine tasks, like packing bags in a supermarket. But if the work is more demanding or requires a greater degree of creativity, carrot-and-stick motivation can lead to immoral behavior and a decline in performance.

How can you make use of this insight? You have to change the way your organization works on a deeper level. To do that, you can use these three key components: mastery, autonomy, and purpose.

Mastery: Let people go with their own flow.

Key component one: mastery. If you want to promote intrinsic motivation, make sure people have the freedom to strive for perfection.

Fifty percent of employees in the US report feeling uncommitted to their job. They fulfill their duties but lack passion. This is because many people aren’t engaged enough in their work and have too few opportunities for personal development. Their drive for perfection is suffocated – and so is their commitment.

Autonomy: My task, my time, my team!

Key component two: autonomy. If you want to promote intrinsic motivation, allow people to make relevant decisions on their own.

In the previous chapters, we mentioned that there are many companies that still rely on the carrot and the stick. However, some companies are different. It’s worth taking a leaf out of their book. In these companies, leadership rests on the self-determination of the workers. Instead of monitoring their employees and keeping them on a tight leash, they’ve either relaxed control or completely let go of the reins.

Purpose: Work should be meaningful.

Key component three: purpose. If you want to promote intrinsic motivation, stand up for meaningful work.

What moves people during the course of their lives? To answer this question, psychologists asked graduates of the University of Rochester about their main aim in life. While some named extrinsic profit targets and wanted to become rich and famous, others specified more meaningful intrinsic goals like developing personally and helping others – working for international aid organizations, for example.

Want to see all full key ideas from Drive?

Key ideas in Drive

More knowledge in less time

Read or listen

Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.

Find your next read

Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.

Shortcasts ^New

We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

What is Drive about?

Drive (2009) points out that many organizations still follow a “carrot and stick” approach, using external incentives to motivate people. It explains why this is a bad idea and introduces a more effective solution: sparking engagement by catering to the psychology of intrinsic motivation.

Drive Review

Drive by Daniel Pink (2009) delves into the intriguing world of motivation and what truly drives individuals to excel in their endeavors. Here's what makes this book so captivating:

It offers a fresh perspective on motivation, highlighting the importance of intrinsic factors rather than external rewards, shedding light on what really motivates us.
Pink draws on a wealth of research and scientific studies to support his arguments, making the book engaging and credible.
The book challenges traditional notions of motivation with its thought-provoking insights and counterintuitive findings, keeping readers engaged and fascinated throughout.

Who should read Drive?

Psychology buffs interested in human behavior
Executives who’d like to leverage the power of intrinsic motivation
Anyone who wants to find out how to effectively motivate themselves

About the Author

Daniel Pink studied linguistics and jurisprudence. He’s written seven books, including A Whole New Mind, Drive, To Sell is Human, When, and The Power of Regret – which were all New York Times best sellers. Between 1995 and 1997, Pink was the chief speechwriter for US Vice President Al Gore.

Categories with Drive

Motivation & Inspiration Psychology Management & Leadership

Book summaries like Drive

The Power of Regret

Daniel Pink

How Looking Backward Moves us Forward

Building Meaning in Yourself, Your Role, and Your Organization

The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

18 min

4.4

Zero to One

Peter Thiel with Blake Masters

Notes on Startups, or How to Build The Future

The Power of Diverse Thinking

An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

25 min

4.6

The Art of Explanation

Ros Atkins

How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence

23 min

4.2

Start Now. Get Perfect Later.

Rob Moore

Make Quick, Smart Decisions, and Overcome Procrastination

20 min

4.3

The Art of War (new version)

Sun Tzu

Classic military strategy for politics, business, and everyday life

Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life

The New Psychology of Success

The Formula for Sustained High Performance in All Phases of Your Life

What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference

Stop Drama, Eliminate Entitlement, Maximize Results

The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life)

Are You a Manager or a Movement Starter?

Use Storytelling to Engage, Inspire, and Share Your Message

20 min

4.3

Flow

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The Psychology of Optimal Experience

The Small Changes That Change Everything

22 min

4.6

Driven

Paul R. Lawrence and Nitin Nohria

How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices

17 min

3.6

How to Win Friends & Influence People

Dale Carnegie

Basic rules for how to make a good first impression

18 min

4.6

Man’s Search for Meaning

Viktor Frankl

The harrowing experiences of the author in a concentration camp

Emotional Intelligence

The Courage to Be Disliked

Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga

The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness

How Digital Capitalism Is Taking Over the World

19 min

#POSITIVITY

Phil Hellmuth Jr.

You Are Always In The Right Place At The Right Time

Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't

17 min

4.5

The 12 Traits of the Greats

Dave Martin

Mastering The Qualities Of Uncommon Achievers

17 min

4.2

What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

Laura Vanderkam

And Two Other Short Guides to Achieving More at Work and Home

How to Learn and Lead in a Volatile World

17 min

Co-Intelligence

Ethan Mollick

Living and Working with AI

16 min

4.2

The Purpose Driven Life

Rick Warren

What on Earth Am I Here For?

Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success

9 min

4.3

Escaping the Build Trap

Melissa Perri

How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value

18 min

Love Life

Matthew Hussey

How to Raise Your Standards, Find Your Person, and Live Happily (No Matter What)

17 min

4.2

Leadership Strategy

Powerful Business Solutions

The Art & Science of Decision-Making

An Amazing Way to Deal With Change in Your Work and in Your Life

11 min

4.4

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

A Magical Fable About Following Your Dreams

The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything

19 min

4.4

Marriage Be Hard

Kevin and Melissa Fredericks

12 Conversations to Keep You Laughing, Loving, and Learning with Your Partner

Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

How to Feel Alive Again

Journey Through Parallel Universes and the 10th Dimension

16 min

3.8

Four Ways of Thinking

David Sumpter

A Journey Into Human Complexity

How Modern Life Became Our New Religion

A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

16 min

4.0

People ❤️ Blinkist

Sven O.

It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

Thi Viet Quynh N.

Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

Jonathan A.

Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

Renee D.

Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.