Friday Five: Leadership, Learning and Intrinsic Motivation

Friday Five is a new weekly series at QAspire where I curate five articles (with excerpts)/quotes/tweets/visuals shared on my personal learning network each week that I found particularly useful, and hopefully you will find some of them valuable too!

This edition features insights on motivation, leadership, future of work and the multidisciplinary mindset.

Is intrinsic motivation at work overrated? – Susan Fowler

“Perhaps no single phenomenon reflects the positive potential of human nature as much as intrinsic motivation, the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise one’s capacities, to explore, and to learn. Developmentalists acknowledge that from the time of birth, children, in their healthiest states, are active, inquisitive, curious, and playful, even in the absence of specific rewards.”

Not all kind of work can feed intrinsic motivation. Good news is: There are more ways to create conditions for better engagement and motivation.

The Restless Multidisciplinarian – An Interview with Kenneth Mikkelsen and Richard Martin at e-180 Mag

“As big picture thinkers and why-seekers, neo-generalists shine light in unfamiliar places. We need that to solve interconnected and complex challenges. Neo-generalists are driven by a deep desire to understand how the dots connect and question the status quo relentlessly. By living in more than one world, they are exposed to a diverse set of interests, people and ideas. Their experiences as critical thinkers, shape shifters, constant learners and boundary crossers make them uniquely qualified to help shape tomorrow’s world by thinking the unimaginable, exploring the unknown and doing what seems impossible to others.”

This is one book I am really looking forward to read and review. I collaborated with Anupam Kundu to write an article titled “The Future of Work and Multipotentialites” – Do check it out!

Don’t Replace People. Augment Them – Tim O’Reilly

If we let machines put us out of work, it will be because of a failure of imagination and the will to make a better future!

The future of work is really about engaging people in a way that they can be more of who they really are – humans!

A Leadership Conundrum: Unexpected Sources of Leadership by Jesse Lyn Stoner

The conundrum is that although you can’t force leadership, leadership often emerges under unexpected circumstances. Sometimes unrecognized or unappreciated, it is leadership nonetheless.

It is a common misconception that a title precedes leadership. Leadership happens in unexpected places and this excellent article offers visibility into unexpected sources of Leadership. As an addition, here is a round up of chat on topic of Emergent Leadership at a Tweetchat (#IHRChat) where I had a privilege to be a guest along with Jesse Lyn Stoner.

On Best Practice – via @JessRuyter

‘Best practice makes a great starting point but a mediocre end game.’

This one is so true! If everyone else is doing it, best practices is the same thing as mediocrity.

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Image Source: Tom Fishburne