Shankar Vedantam over at Washington Post has a great article on how payslips and rewards actually intrinsic motivation, and often kills creativity.
It happens all the time: Two guys in a garage come up with a cool new technology — and dream of making it big. A thousand people take time off work to campaign for a visionary politician because they feel they are doing something to change the world. A million kids hit baseballs — and wonder what it would take to become a pro.
Then the brainiacs, volunteers and Little Leaguers grow up. What they did for fun becomes . . . work. Paychecks and bonuses become the reasons to do things. Pink slips and demotions become the reasons not to do other things.
Read the full article here.
[banner and excerpt courtesy: Washingtonpost]