A presentation I delivered at IGN Exec meeting in January 2012.

2. Background
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I have worked with 8-10 different companies with different cultures,
different products and verticals over the last decade and a half
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As a result, I have worked with team members showing a combination of
motivation, passion, smartness, brightness, ambition, potential,
leadership, following, communication, and the lack thereof
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Allegory training and their case study of Blockbuster
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Quoting David Ting – Everyone is a leader
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In the new age of Internet and Media, its all the more critical that we all
start to see ourselves and everyone around us as motivated, passionate
leaders
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There is no next level when there is no motivation to get there

3. Why am I talking about
motivation?
 No longer something that matters during review cycles
 Motivated co-workers create a great work environment
 Motivation nurtures leadership
 In a small org, successes and failures get amplified.
Motivation largely increases the changes for success.
 Motivation encourages communication, which in turn
creates a thriving, innovation and growth-driven culture.

4. As mortal humans, we are all
unique..
…with unique motivators
 Paycheck, or a
monetary reward
 Getting someone off
our back
 Personal satisfaction
 Sense of achievement
and fulfillment
 Bragging rights or
recognition
 Solving problems, or
challenges
 Role model
 Chasing a dream,
passion
 Curiosity
 Happiness
 Competitive Spirit
 Perfectionism

5. What motivates them?
 Steve Jobs
 I want to put a ding in
the universe
 Bill Gates
 I want to put PCs in
every
household, beyond
universities and
schools
 Mark Zuckerberg
 I want to shape the way
people interact and
connect with others
online
 Google (the founders but
the company too)
 WE want to make the
web faster
 Everest, K2 Climbers
 The drive to be on the
top of the world; which
costs them their life
savings, knowing very
well that 2 out of 5 die
trying.

6. Motivators: Extrinsic

Simple, we’ve been used to this one ever since we were kids, and we
use it with our kids.
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Reward good behavior with tangible goods
Punish bad behavior by taking them away
So the motivation factor is to stay out of trouble, and do a good job
expecting more money, bigger house, fatter bonus, good grades.
You do not need an MBA to extrinsically motivate people.
Most extrinsically motivated people are followers, rarely leaders.
Extrinsic motivation plateaus, and needs to be re-enforced time and
again.
Extrinsic motivation works best for manual, mechanical work. Not
where cognitive or out-of-the-box intelligence, and creativity is
needed, i.e. knowledge work.

7. Motivators: Intrinsic
 Almost opposite of Extrinsic motivation
 Comes from within (duh!)
 Very circumstantial, and cannot be directly enforced but coached

Most of what promotes intrinsic motivation is abstract, and cannot
be pegged to a dollar value.
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I want to write perfect code
I want to learn a new language
I want to solve problem X to make Y’s life easier
I want to be looked upon as the brightest bulb in the box
 Intrinsic motivation is almost always a necessary trait in a leader.

8. Purpose-driven Motivation
 The motivator is “purpose”
 Clarity and communication on:
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What is one’s purpose in the organization
What is the organization’s purpose in the company
What is the company’s purpose in the world
 Being a part of the greater picture
 Having independence, or “autonomy” (like hack events)
 Encourages ownership and value
 Encourages responsibility and accountability

9. Autonomy and Mastery
 Go hand in hand with the purpose
 The focus is on achieving the purpose through
developing mastery autonomously – i.e., you are
empowered to make decisions and have enough
autonomy to do so.
 You build significant skills in that area
 The mastery and autonomy act as a means to the
purpose.

10. Org Culture and Motivation
 Varying degree of these traits in an org impact the
motivation in the individual at different levels
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Politics
Ease (or difficulty) of getting things done.
Recognition and visibility
Co-workers and their motivation
Nature and kind of work (tedious vs. challenging)
Opportunities for growth, and their communication
Individual Engagement and autonomy
Compensation (with fair contribution parity)
Alignment and focus towards a common goal

11. Imagine…
 Being taught by unmotivated teachers
 Kids or Elderly being cared by unmotivated
caregivers
 Having a terminal illness being treated by
unmotivated doctors
 City being patrolled by unmotivated cops

12. Then imagine..
 Browsing around an online shopping site, whose
U|X sucks as it was developed by unmotivated
engineers
 Be in a room full of folks where a few motivated folks
are talking about their work and/or life with a big grin
on their face
 Google or Facebook going down in non-business
hours (hey, they are free!)

13. It cant be that bad!
 Unmotivated folks pose an immediate risk to an org or a
project.
 Conflicts with the motivated folks due to impedance
mismatch
 Lower the bar and quality of the overall result
 Lack of leadership
 Its infectious – the motivated folks run a risk of giving up
after being burnt out
 The org runs the risk of being at a “status-quo” with no
innovation ahead
 Leadership-by-example fails to exist

14. What makes knowledge
motivators different
 Like it or not, web never sleeps
 Tech motivators usually are not the same as, say, motivators
for a Walmart Shift Manager, or an in-house Accounting
Software Programmer
 Granted that we are not saving lives, but are committed to
provide a good, efficient, “purposeful” service, 24x7
 Technology competition is much, much closer than the one for
the Target, PG&E and Goldman Sachs of the World
 The rate of innovation and execution is too high for
unmotivated technologists to keep up

15. How to improve motivation
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Find out what factors motivate
you under what circumstances
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Extrinsic
Intrinsic
Purpose
Talk to your manager, or peers
on this topic. Communication is
the only thing that can change
or address motivation.
NOTHING ELSE CAN.
Make this a part of 1:1
meetings
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Think of being motivated as a
non-negotiable attribute. Do
justice to your work, your coworkers, and your users.
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A team is only as strong as the
weakest link, and often the
weakest link is unmotivated,
not unskilled.
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Realistic, performance driven
rewards, like the Next-level
pay. Similarly, myVoice, which
is a transparent medium for
continuous feedback.

16. Action items
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Self introspection
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Keep motivation on the back of your mind always
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Be a leader – and lead by Example
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Leadership does not come from a title, it comes from demonstrating the
trait
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Read “Drive” by Dan Pink, or watch the youtube video for his TED talk
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Communicate
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Communicate more