Daniel Pink TED Talk

Calling Daniel Pink passionate is a bit of an understatement. When he speaks, one can see the fire in his eyes as he explains extrinsic motivators. His passion and his obvious love for his topic made me want to love it too. Take the candle problem. As much as I don't want to admit it, I would most likely fail the candle problem. I don't look outside the box like that. I just give up. However, Pink's enthusiasm made me wonder why. I'm not sure I completely agree with what he was saying, but I had a deep respect for the fact that he said it. He presented his information with humor and fire, and, while it was often to keep up with him, once I got along with the pace of his speech, I was really into it.

Pink could have easily gone wrong here. Often times, passion and enthusiasm can be misconstrued as simply ranting. No one wants to have to listen to a rant. Pink, however, made sure to stay away from rant-mode by including facts, figures, and conclusive information that enhanced his point.

The only loophole in his idea is the fact that people will do things just because it's the right thing to do and they need to get it done. All too often, people don't work that way. There are so many things that need to be done that might not get done if people weren't motivated to do it. Outside motivation, whether it is money, praise, imminent punishment, or whatever, drives people. On the other hand, trust me when I say that this does not mean I believe that doctors wouldn't save lives if they weren't paid, or that kids wouldn't learn if they weren't praised. This simply means that motivation, in whatever form, keeps the world turning as we currently know it.

Daniel Pink is a man who is very in touch with his ideas and beliefs, and in his TED Talk, his enthusiasm was immensely contagious.