A Fool's Errand: Trying to Motivate Employees with a Carrot or a Stick

Would you be more inclined to listen to this week’s edition of Monday Morning Radio if you knew that one lucky listener would win a Silver Aluminum Apple Watch? Perhaps.

But this week’s guest, Susan Fowler, thinks such prize incentives are an awful way to win customers or to encourage employees to perform better on the job. In the long run, they don’t work.

Susan, who has worked alongside management guru Ken Blanchard for more than two decades and co-authored three books with Ken, is an expert on the science of motivation. 

Her own book, Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work…and What Does, explodes the conventional wisdom that to motivate others – or even yourself – you have two choices, the carrot or the stick. That may work for horses, Susan says, but not for listeners of this podcast or for any other sentient human being.

Susan is interviewed by Wizard Academy faculty member Dean Rotbart, co-host of Business Unconventional, the one-hour radio newsmagazine that aired weekly on News/Talk 710 KNUS AM in Denver.

Photo: Susan Fowler, Why Motivating People Doesn't Work

Posted: May 18, 2015

Monday Morning Run Time: 38 minutes  12 seconds

Spend Labor Day weekend in gorgeous Colorado after having completed Dean Rotbart’s amazing 2-Day Mile High Reputation Tool Chest Workshop. You’ll leave with all the knowledge and training you need to rocket launch your own profitable local, national, even global reputation. To register or for more information, visit MondayMorningRadio.com.