We're bracing ourselves for a renewal of the debate over bankers' bonuses over the next week or so. The banks we've all bailed out are seeking to justify new pay offers on the same old basis of the need to attract the best. Putting aside the fairly obvious point that "the best" is hardly an appropriate term for a cohort of businesspeople who managed to plunge the world into the severest depression since the 1930s, it might be worth also revisiting the assumption that incentives necessarily produce the best results. So, from the rather wonderful TED.com, may I present for discussion and reflection Dan Pink on the social scientific study of motivation:
Think Of the Children
58 minutes ago
