This book integrates evidence from motivational and evolutionary science to explain the essential nature of human motivation. Scholars, professionals, leaders, and students in psychology, education, and business will learn how goal-life alignment and 'thriving with social purpose' can inspire optimal functioning and enhance life meaning.

A follow-up to the best-selling 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself draws on the successes of live workshops, seminars and the personal coaching programs of leading organizations to counsel professional leaders on such topics as slowing down, keeping work simple and promoting accountability.

A top leadership consultant says: Stop trying to motivate people! Find a powerful alternative to the carrot and stick in this science-driven guide. It's frustrating for everyone involved and it just doesn’t work. You can’t motivate people—they are already motivated, but generally in superficial and short-term ways. In this book, Susan Fowler builds upon the latest scientific research on the nature of human motivation to lay out a tested model and course of action that will help leaders guide their people toward the kind of motivation that not only increases productivity and engagement but that gives them a profound sense of purpose and fulfillment. Fowler argues that leaders still depend on traditional carrot-and-stick techniques because they haven’t understood their alternatives and don’t know what skills are necessary to apply the new science of motivation. Her Optimal Motivation process shows leaders how to move people away from dependence on external rewards and help them discover how their jobs can meet the deeper psychological needs—for autonomy, relatedness, and competence—that science tells us result in meaningful and sustainable motivation. Optimal Motivation has been proven in organizations all over the world—Fowler’s clients include Microsoft, CVS, NASA, the Catholic Leadership Institute, H&R Block, Mattel, and dozens more. Throughout this book, she illustrates how each step of the process works using real-life examples—and offers a groundbreaking answer for leaders who want to get motivation right!

What motivates us as students, employees, and individuals? If you reward your children for doing their homework, they will usually respond by getting it done. But is this the most effective method of motivation? No, says psychologist Edward L. Deci, who challenges traditional thinking and shows that this method actually works against performance. The best way to motivate people—at school, at work, or at home—is to support their sense of autonomy. Explaining the reasons why a task is important and then allowing as much personal freedom as possible in carrying out the task will stimulate interest and commitment, and is a much more effective approach than the standard system of reward and punishment. We are all inherently interested in the world, argues Deci, so why not nurture that interest in each other? Instead of asking, "How can I motivate people?" we should be asking, "How can I create the conditions within which people will motivate themselves?" "An insightful and provocative meditation on how people can become more genuinely engaged and succesful in pursuing their goals." —Publisher's Weekly

The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

This book describes the essential nature of human motivation by integrating the best ideas and evidence from motivational and evolutionary science. In doing so, the authors explain how the cultivation of goal-life alignment and 'thriving with social purpose' motivational patterns can inspire optimal functioning and enhance life meaning. Readers are provided with a comprehensive framework for guiding research and intervention efforts along with motivational principles designed to summarize the major themes in effective efforts to motivate yourself and those you wish to help or encourage. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of life meaning in empowering our motivational systems and protecting us from downward spirals of disappointment and suffering. Compelling evidence is provided to support the view that social purpose is as fundamental as self-interest in human motivational systems. The authors also focus on the catalytic role of social purpose in enabling humans to soar above all other species.

Motivating Others focuses on helping teachers to encourage and nurture their students' natural motivation. With its constructivist, humanistic approach, this book presents theoretical rationale as well as practical 'how-to' applications within a clear, conceptual, organizational framework for the study of motivation.