Typically, if you reward something, you get more of it. You punish something, you get less of it. And our businesses have been built for the last 150 years very much on that kind of motivational scheme.

The ultimate pitch for an era of short attention spans begins with a single word - and doesn't go any further.

I don't think it's a Western thing to really talk about intrinsic motivation and the drive for autonomy, mastery and purpose. You have to not be struggling for survival. For people who don't know where their next meal is coming, notions of finding inner motivation are comical.

Especially for fostering creative, conceptual work, the best way to use money as a motivator is to take the issue of money off the table so people concentrate on the work.

One of the best predictors of ultimate success in either sales or non - sales selling isn't natural talent or even industry expertise, but how you explain your failures and rejections.

When the reward is the activity itself--deepening learning, delighting customers, doing one's best--there are no shortcuts.

There's an idea out there that salespeople have actually been obliterated by the Internet, which is just not supported by the facts.