"...keeping you great"
HEADLINES:
Motivate U.S. Senator John Cornyn -- anyone know him well?
What Motivates Us -- OK, so maybe I'm late, but I'll jump on the bandwagon and encourage you to watch 9 minutes of this 18 minute presentation by Dan Pink at the TED conference in July (the entire 18 minutes is fantastic where you learn about the famous candle experiment, but for those with less time, go to the 9:12 spot). Pink, author of the hugely popular A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future and Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (Dec 2009) attacks some of the incentive-based approaches companies use (excellent for non-thinking work) and suggests that Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose (vs. Carrots and Sticks) are the intrinsic motivators needed for those that have to create, design, and think for a living. Thanks to Richard Lethin, CEO/Owner of NYC-based Reservoir, an outsourced R&D firm, for pointing me to this powerful presentation.
Atlassian Motivates Programmers -- and at the 13:45 point in the presentation Pink highlights Atlassian, an Australian software firm (and fan of the Rockefeller Habits) that created a clever variation on Google's 20% rule for programmers. They call it their FedEx Days (because you have to deliver something overnight) where several times a year they take 1.5 days (lunch Thursday to 4pm Friday) and let programmers jam on any project they desire -- then results are shown and winners chosen. Here's a short description of this crazy irregular event that has created important features/updates to their software. Pink highlights this as an example of Autonomy.
What Motivates Billionaires -- Rick Sapio, founder of Mutuals.com and now head of Mutual Capital Alliance, spent last year with thirteen billionaires, interviewing them, hanging with them, and partying with them (Richard Branson) -- and he's distilled what he calls the Billionaire Mindset. Rick reviewed his results with me and they are truly insightful. Rick is going to present his findings at the Growth Summit in Dallas -- thanks Rick!
If Muhammed Ali Motivates You -- Ken Sim, co-founder of Nurse Next Door (who is also sharing his lessons from implementing Lean at the Growth Summit), sent me this note from his friend "We are showing clips of a new Ali documentary film at Lumiere at 6 pm on Oct 8. My friend David Sidoo is putting up dinner and wine at Vancouver's #1 restaurant and Ali will come for a couple of hours for photos etc. His faculties are muted but....Only come if you are a fanatic like me. It is $5,000 a person (20 people) and the money goes to Ali foundation and Imagine One Day." Reply to this insight if interested.
Motivate you to Register -- Oct 2 Conference Program Deadline -- you can register for the Growth Summit up to the last minute. However, if you would like your company and team listed in the conference program, please register by tomorrow, Friday, Oct 2. See you in Dallas in a few weeks. We have the largest crowd we've ever had -- it's the place to be for 48 hours.
Motivate you to Tune-In -- and if you can't make the Growth Summit, at least tune-in. We're video webcasting Jim Collins and David Allen LIVE from the Growth Summit -- and Jim and his team (I had my call with Jim Monday night -- I'm super excited about what he's presenting especially for us) have allowed us to archive for 24 hours so those in different time zones around the world can view at a reasonable time. Here's a link to sign-up.