Food for Thought

Eriko in my last post Linked this video.

Very very interesting. Part of me wants to totally disagree with this concept, but on the other hand it gives some VERY compelling examples.

Also yours truly writes a blog for free during his time off.

On my behalf, if I was recruited to write for some media source, I would only do it if I was paid a significant sum, because right now I choose when I write and what I write about. If tomorrow I don’t feel like typing something out or re-posting something, no new materiel for you, and you have no recourse, because you read this for free, and I’m my own boss. To add a boss, it would significantly decrease the enjoyment of this, as well as if I became an entrepreneur and was my own boss, and now my readers were paying customers. I don’t feel like writing one day, paying customers might pack it up and let me dangle.

I’m also a little disappointed that there is no time spent explaining why or theories why the higher incentives don’t work for intellectual tasks.

Could it be that crux between art and science? If I need to build a box, or haul a load of wood, or mow my lawn, its either done or it isn’t. If I need to write a post, if you force me when I’m not feeling it the end product is going to suck, meanwhile if left to my own resources I’ll only produce better quality work…or nothing at all. Maybe some incentives could increase that efficiency, but there might come a breaking point where it is simply pushing too hard to get the money’s value in end product.

What do you think? And Eriko, thanks for the link!

Arrrrrr

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0 Responses to Food for Thought

  1. alan says:

    HAH! The guy says the Federal Reserve isn’t Socialist.

    A National Central Bank is one of the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto. The Fed is, by it’s very nature, a socialist institution.

    Unfortunately he’s talking about a utopia.

    And you know what kind of hell holes come from people looking for utopia.

  2. ZerCool says:

    Ok, I only watched part of the video but I think I caught the high points.

    And you are spot-on about having a boss taking the fun out of it.

    I used to be a pretty fair photographer. I’d get the muse, take some pics, and enjoyed it.

    A friend/coworker asked me to shoot their wedding, and I did. Had a great time doing it, made a little money.

    The next summer, one of their friends emailed me out of the blue and asked me to shoot their wedding. We got together and nailed things down, and I did the wedding. Had a good time, made some money.

    Later that summer a friend of theirs emailed me and asked me to do their wedding. Again, nailed things down, and I did the wedding. I was … not into it. The pictures came out well, I made some money.

    I haven’t really had the muse since. As soon as my passion became a job, the fun was gone. 🙁

  3. Newbius says:

    Autonomy also means you have the right – the obligation – to say no.

    I actually think the video nails the concepts of human motivation pretty accurately. If you analyze your motivations for changing careers paths or employers, and it is because of satisfaction issues, it may just be that one of the three main factors is missing. Fix the factor, and the job might actually be something you want to do. At the moment, the balance at my job is off, due to both money and purpose. Pay got cut, and purpose got lost above my level. Easy enough to fix…and I would again be one of their top performers. As it is, I am looking for a different position…

  4. eriko says:

    Further reading
    http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.26.5282&rep=rep1&type=pdf
    There is nothing special about the paper. It is just an example of some the research into how people deal with money that is along the ideas of the video and was the results of a little googling.

    And a further example from the same guy in the video. Fair warning the guy was a Gore speech writer. A good speech writer is good at assembling others ideas into to something that most people can “get”, it is their job. So don’t shoot the messenger he just regurgitated others work in a palatable form. The results themselves are the interesting part.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/business-thinking/7752986/Forget-carrots-and-sticks-they-dont-always-work.html

    One the entertaining results of this kind of research is when currency (tasks were payed for in metal washers, the washers could be exchanged for treats like grapes) was introduced into a caged colony of Capuchin monkeys prostitution emerged (metal washers for sex)
    http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the_inevitable_profession

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