Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations (TED Books) Hardcover – November 15, 2016

As a general rule, I read just about any book or article written by Dan Ariely. So I was thrilled when I heard about his latest book, Payoff: the Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations. So I pre-ordered it from Amazon and low and behold, it arrived on the day it was published. Interestingly enough, it was published by TEDBooks, an arm of the TEDTalks franchise. (Brilliant business model….extend the life of a TED Talk through a single focus/message book!)So PAYOFF is based on Ariely’s October 2012 TED Talk, “What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work?”. It really is a mash-up of previous writings, but I’ll forgive that for now. Payoff is a quick read (2 hours tops – precisely halfway from PHX to EWR), and gives you just enough sense to recognize that motivation is not as straightforward as we would like it to be.Ariely has a unique gift to blend the academic with rhetoric, providing compelling stories that grab the readers’ attention. His ultimate premise? (Spoiler alert: “To motivate ourselves and others successfully, we need to provide a sense of connection and meaning – remembering that meaning is not always synonymous with personal happiness.”)It’s the road that leads us to this conclusion that is worth reading – as well as the impact of his words. Within the story, he talks about a group of engineers who were motivated to work on an intense project, only to have the proverbial tablecloth pulled from them. What happens to motivation? Or when a mother calls to have Ariely visit her burn-victim son facing similar challenges he himself faced as a young man. Where’s the motivation to go relive that experience and talk to him?It’s a compelling short novel-talk that gives you far more insight into what motivates and de-motivates a friend, a family member, a co-worker, or a boss; (hint: it’s not money), and what DOES motivate them. And that’s worth two hours of your time (to read….although to process, it might take a bit more!)

As with all of Dan Ariely's work, this one is an easy read & completely insightful and interesting. If you've read his other books, blog, articles or seen most of his TED talks & listened to his podcasts & others' interviews w/him - then you've almost certainly heard everything contained within this small book. (I found myself reading the book in his distinct voice in my head). I am a huge fan of Ariely's work, so this book was a concise summary of stuff I've known from before & didn't contain any new information (hence the lacking star). That said, this would be an excellent gift for anyone who is taking on their first leadership/management role or someone who is starting a company & needs a primer/reminder of what it takes to engage and motivate employees.

"Rather than seeing motivation as a simple, rat-seeking-reward equation, my hope is to shine some light on this beautiful, deeply human, and psychologically complex world." Dan Ariely I truly enjoyed reading Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations by Dan Ariely. In the beginning, he opens up to you, the reader, by writing about an extremely painful and personal experience he went through.One night, Dan Ariely received a call from a woman who he did not know. She was calling him from the hospital, asking him to come help her because two of her teenage children had been badly burned in a fire. When Dan was a teenager, he had also been in an accident in which nearly 70% of his body had been severely burned. He went to the hospital to help the woman's children for months, and that is where he made his first realizations about motivation: 1. "Many of our motivations spring from trying to conquer a sense of helplessness and reclaim even a tiny modicum of control over our lives.” 2. “[Volunteers who help the chronically ill] demonstrate how our ingrained desire to believe that our lives have purpose beyond our life spans drives us to work extra hard, even to the point of our own suffering, in order to gain more meaning.”After he opened up about such a personal topic, I found it much easier to listen to what Dan had to say about how he believes motivation works. He talks about several experiments he does with people and discovers the best way to kill somebody's motivation, and he also reveals one of the most important things to do in order to motivate somebody else.This review was originally posted on my blog along with other inspiring, thought provoking books.thewrightread.com

I'm not a big book reader, working on that, but I thought there would be more to apply in day to day dealings with people. This is more thought process driven, which is good but I was looking for something else. I read this in a few hours time, so from that standpoint it caught my attention and I like books that do that. I will re-read it a few more times since it is an easy read for me.

I've read all of Ariely books and that being said this one is a lot of overlap from previous volumes and talks. Its still a good quick read and like most of Arielys books a good thing to give away to a coworker or someone on the bus who seems slightly interested. Its a very easy read that keeps you attached for the short period it takes to get through. Its not something thats going to give you massive depth or insight but something that could get an individual's interest piqued, drawing desire to read more or look more into behavioral economics.

Dan Ariely tajes over one of the "the ultimate questions of life" on an amusing and simple way. Highly recommended

Dan Ariely é sempre provocador em seus livros, trazendo cases e estudos relevantes e muitas vezes divertidos. Neste livro, ele questiona o que realmente motiva o trabalhador. Será o dinheiro o maior motivador?

Despues de haber leeído esto libro, lo ofreci a personas de mi equipo para que accedan a los mismos "insights". Muy bueno.

A nice, short, concise book that encapsulate's Ariely's usual combination of research-backed insight, humour, and highly-readable prose. A good introduction to the complexity of that which drives us, and how we fail, in most cases, to be able to see what's in the mirror.

Avendo già letto un altro libro dell'autore, ed essendo certa delle sue capacità espositive, ho comprato a scatola chiusa quest'opera, sicuramente interessante ma sfortunatamente troppo breve. Per quanto la materia sia complessa e argomentata in modo coinvolgente, il prezzo appare esagerato rispetto ai contenuti.