VitalSigns: Intrinsic Motivation

IM helps you:

• Make decisions based on your own values and principles.
• Listen to others without being unduly influenced.
• Ignite the “fire within” for enduring stamina.
• Avoid wasting time and energy trying to “look good.”

Daniel Pink discusses his latest book, A Whole New Mind, with emotional intelligence expert Joshua Freedman, and identifies key skills for leaders in a changing marketplace.

What do you get when you add up designer toilet brushes, Frappucinos, increasing obesity, innovation and outsourcing? According to trend-watcher Daniel Pink, it's a new business climate -- that calls for a new breed of leadership.

To thrive in the era of the three As -- Abundance, Asia, and Automation -- companies have to offer significance above and beyond product value. And leading this kind of business takes special talent - talent that's increasingly hard to find.

The business challenge begins with a changing marketplace, and continues with a new generation workforce. Pink says businesses will find it increasingly challenging to hold marketshare. “Today you have to have the ability to do something that's hard to outsource, hard to automate, and that satisfies some of the nonmaterial demands of this very abundant age. An age where many consumers in the West have had their basic material functional needs satisfied or over satisfied. The way you stand out in a crowded marketplace is to appeal to spirituality, emotion, aesthetics, and so forth.”

It’s No Surprise That Optimists Identify Themselves as More Successful Than Their Pessimistic Counterparts, But Does the Boss Agree?  A New Study Says Yes.

More optimistic employees earn higher performance management scores even in a highly technical IT firm.  Using the SEI emotional intelligence assessment, researchers found optimism predicts almost 18% of job success.  The finding reinforces the importance of hiring and training for this learnable skill.  It also provides an edge to employees who want to be recognized as high performers.