When I saw that Dan Pink will be the keynote speaker for the 2015 LMA Annual Conference in San Diego, I immediately watched his TED Talk. In that talk, "The Puzzle of Motivation," he describes The Candle Problem, in which two groups are asked to determine how to attach a candle to a wall so that it doesn't drip. Each group is given a candle, a box of thumbtacks, and a set of matches. The first group is told they will be timed in order to set benchmarks; the second group is promised money if they finish in the top 25 percent. Surprisingly, the group that was promised money consistently finished three minutes slower than the other group. The financial reward caused the second group to narrow their focus and neglect to look for creative solutions to solve the problem.
When the end game is to be creative, intrinsic motivation is far more powerful than extrinsic motivation. Dan notes that we are inherently moved by three things:
- Autonomy: the desire to direct our own lives,
- Mastery: the urge to get better at something that matters, and
- Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.
With all that in mind, I began to think about the way I approach my work. I like challenging projects because they allow me to flex my creative and strategic muscles, which sometimes suffer from atrophy when I'm focused on checking things off my to-do list. At several points in my career, people gave me assignments that terrified me. Yet they all encouraged me with a smile and said, "go forth and conquer." What did they know that I didn't? Why did they think I was up to the challenge? They saw something in me that I didn't. They gave me the autonomy to accomplish something I hadn't done before, and have proven to me that I can do things that make my heart race and ultimately build my confidence. Those projects have propelled me through my career, giving me the drive and confidence to take on new and different challenges at each stage. I still get butterflies in my stomach when someone approaches me with an audacious challenge, and I think that's what it's all about.
My challenge to all of us: Take a look around. What is your Candle Problem? How can you help improve your team, your firm, your community, or LMASE? Tap into your internal drive to find the solution. Go forth and conquer!
Brook Redmond
LMASE President