The Little Book of Big Management Wisdom

QUOTATION 46

TOM PETERS ON SELF-MOTIVATION

Use this to remind you of the limited, but vital, role that managers play in motivating staff.

Tom Peters (b. 1942) worked as a Kinsey management consultant before becoming a hugely successful and influential management guru and best-selling author of several management books. He likes to think outside the box and argues that only people can motivate themselves.

The common wisdom is that … managers have to learn how to motivate people. Nonsense. Employees bring their own motivation.

Tom Peters

Peters’ stance is part of the long-standing argument about the nature of motivation: i.e. is motivation intrinsic or extrinsic? Assuming he is at least partially right in his belief, what should you do? ...