Daniel H. Pink (born July 23, 1964) is an American author. Four of his books have been featured on the New York Times bestsellers’ list. He was host and co-executive producer of the 2014 National Geographic Channel social science TV series Crowd Control.
His books include the long-running New York Times bestsellers When and A Whole New Mind — as well as the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. Dan’s books have won multiple awards, have been translated into 40 languages, and have sold more than three million copies. He lives in Washington, DC, with his family.
Top 32 Quotes from Drive by Daniel H. Pink
“Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Greatness and nearsightedness are incompatible. Meaningful achievement depends on lifting one’s sights and pushing toward the horizon.” ― Daniel H. Pink,
“The ultimate freedom for creative groups is the freedom to experiment with new ideas. Some skeptics insist that innovation is expensive. In the long run, innovation is cheap. Mediocrity is expensive—and autonomy can be the antidote.” TOM KELLEY General Manager, IDEO” ― Daniel H. Pink,
“Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.” ― Daniel H. Pink,
“The monkeys solved the puzzle simply because they found it gratifying to solve puzzles. They enjoyed it. The joy of the task was its own reward.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“People can have two different mindsets, she says. Those with a “fixed mindset” believe that their talents and abilities are carved in stone. Those with a “growth mindset” believe that their talents and abilities can be developed. Fixed mindsets see every encounter as a test of their worthiness. Growth mindsets see the same encounters as opportunities to improve.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“As Carol Dweck says, “Effort is one of the things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it. It would be an impoverished existence if you were not willing to value things and commit yourself to working toward them.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“The problem with making an extrinsic reward the only destination that matters is that some people will choose the quickest route there, even if it means taking the low road. Indeed, most of the scandals and misbehavior that have seemed endemic to modern life involve shortcuts.” ― Daniel Pink
“We have three innate psychological needs—competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When those needs are satisfied, we’re motivated, productive, and happy.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Newtonian physics runs into problems at the subatomic level. Down there–in the land of hadrons, quarks, and Schrödinger’s cat–things gent freaky. The cool rationality of Isaac Newton gives way to the bizarre unpredictability of Lewis Carroll.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“When the reward is the activity itself–deepening learning, delighting customers, doing one’s best–there are no shortcuts.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Children who are praised for “being smart” often believe that every encounter is a test of whether they really are. So to avoid looking dumb, they resist new challenges and choose the easiest path. By contrast, kids who understand that effort and hard work lead to mastery and growth are more willing to take on new, difficult tasks.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Living a satisfying life requires more than simply meeting the demands of those in control. Yet in our offices and our classrooms we have way too much compliance and way too little engagement. The former might get you through the day, but the latter will get you through the night.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Goals that people set for themselves and that are devoted to attaining mastery are usually healthy. But goals imposed by others–sales targets, quarterly returns, standardized test scores, and so on–can sometimes have dangerous side effects.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Management isn’t about walking around and seeing if people are in their offices,” he told me. It’s about creating conditions for people to do their best work.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Find what drives us” ― Daniel Pink
“We leave lucrative jobs to take low-paying ones that provide a clearer sense of purpose.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“For artists, scientists, inventors, schoolchildren, and the rest of us, intrinsic motivation—the drive do something because it is interesting, challenging, and absorbing—is essential for high levels of creativity.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Being a professional,” Julius Erving once said, “is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Why reach for something you can never fully attain? But it’s also a source of allure. Why not reach for it? The joy is in the pursuit more than the realization. In the end, mastery attracts precisely because mastery eludes.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity; controlling extrinsic motivation is detrimental to creativity.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Have you ever seen a six-month-old or a three-year-old who’s not curious and self-directed? I haven’t. That’s how we are out of the box.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Once we realize that the boundaries between work and play are artificial, we can take matters in hand and begin the difficult task of making life more livable.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Motivation 1.0 presumed that humans were biological creatures, struggling to obtain our basic needs for food, security and sex.
Motivation 2.0 presumed that humans also responded to rewards and punishments. That worked fine for routine tasks but incompatible with how we organize what we do, how we think about what we do, and how
we do what we do. We need an upgrade.
Motivation 3.0, the upgrade we now need, presumes that humans also have a drive to learn, to create, and to better the world.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“What you decide not to do is probably more important than what you decide to do.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Rewards do not undermine people’s intrinsic motivation for dull tasks because there is little or no intrinsic motivation to be undermined.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Nobody “manages” the open source contributors.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“People use rewards expecting to gain the benefit of increasing another person’s motivation and behavior, but in so doing, they often incur the unintentional and hidden cost of undermining that person’s intrinsic motivation toward the activity.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Lawyers often face intense demands but have relatively little “decision latitude.” Behavioral scientists use this term to describe the choices, and perceived choices, a person has. In a sense, it’s another way of describing autonomy—and lawyers are glum and cranky because they don’t have much of it.” ― Daniel H. Pink
“Goals may cause systematic problems for organizations due to narrowed focus, unethical behavior, increased risk taking, decreased cooperation, and decreased intrinsic motivation. Use care when applying goals in your organization.” ― Daniel H. Pink
Bestselling Books by Daniel H. Pink
Daniel H. Pink is the author of several provocative, bestselling books about business, work, creativity, and behavior.
His books include:
- When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing unlocks the scientific secrets to good timing to help you flourish at work, at school, and at home. When spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list. Several outlets (including Amazon, iBooks, and Goodreads) named it one of the best non-fiction books of 2018. It is being translated into 32 languages.
- To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, which uses social science to offer a fresh look at the art and science of sales. To Sell is Human was a #1 bestseller on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post lists and has been translated into 32 languages.
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates US, which draws on 50 years of behavioral science to overturn the conventional wisdom about human motivation. Drive spent 159 weeks on the New York Times (main and extended) bestseller lists. A national bestseller in Japan and the United Kingdom, the book has been translated into 37 languages.
- A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, which charts the rise of right-brain thinking in modern economies and describes the six abilities individuals and organizations must master in an outsourced, automated age. A Whole New Mind was on the New York Times (main and extended) bestseller lists for 96 weeks over four years.
- The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need, the first American business book in the Japanese comic format known as manga and the only graphic novel ever to become a BusinessWeek bestseller. Illustrated by award-winning artist Rob Ten Pas, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko was named an American Library Association best graphic novel for teens.
- Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself, a Washington Post bestseller that Publishers Weekly says “has become a cornerstone of employee-management relations.” In 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Library of Congress selected Free Agent Nation as one of 100 Books That Shaped Work in America.
