The K.E.E.N. is not anymore motivated by money. She wants to have fun, to bring something to the world, to prove herself.
One of the best stories I found is the story of the development of Apple’s graphing calculator.
Apple's graphing calculation application
Or, how two engineers, against all odds, against Apple itself, have worked hidden for a number of months in Apple’s offices, unpaid, to create a great product.
What was their motivation? Let’s use Daniel Pink’s Drive book framework:
- Autonomy: they did what they wanted to do, deciding by themselves what they would do and how
- Mastery: this project allowed them to show how good they were in programming
- Purpose: they wanted to create a product so great people computers could not ship without it
Why did they succeed? They were supported by the informal organization; they had a tribe of supporters; their enthusiasm and sense of purpose did communicate to others.
While this was all developed against the will of Apple’s managers, they were clever enough to see the interest when the product finally came out. That would certainly not happen in many organizations!
When I continue to see large organizations that think that they can retain and motivate people just by giving them money (or, the expectation of getting more money sometime in the future), I just see a total misunderstanding of the world they are living in.
The K.E.E.N. is not any more motivated by carrot and stick. She is motivated by challenge, a deep sense of purpose and her community. When will the standards of organization leadership change to accommodate this new reality?
