"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful." – Eric Thomas, American motivational speaker.  One of the eternal quests of the modern business leader is the search for the Holy Grail of worker motivation—as if there's just one secret, one formula or recipe, that will instantly and permanently push a team's productivity through the roof. It's a nice fantasy, but you quickly learn that nothing works for everyone. Fortunately, most people respond well to intrinsic rewards, like pats on the back and public recognition, as well as the king of extrinsic motivation, More Money. But there's no panacea that invariably turns disengaged grumps into optimistic top performers, while still urging existing performers ever upward. As it turns out, our basic … [Read more...]