Top 3 Motivators; Quiznos and Burger King One-Page Plans; Nine Lessons for Children

HEADLINES:
 

Quiznos' and Burger King's One-Page Plans — more below, but first…

#1 Business Speaker in the World — right now, according to Speaker Mix, its Dan Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. You must read the first three pages of Chapter 4 – a model for most of our growth firms — and then go back and read Chapter 3. He also has one of the most watched TED presentations. Book club members are receiving his book this week and he'll be the main headliner for our Fortune Growth Summit, Oct 25 – 26, Phoenix. I think he's the #1 business speaker as well in 2011!

Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose — these are the three pillars of Pink's framework for unlocking people's intrinsic motivation. So long as pay is sufficient, your people will produce more and be happier if these three nutrients – autonomy, mastery, and purpose – exist in their work environment. Notes Pink "Type I behavior ("I" stands for Intrinsic) is self-directed. It is devoted to becoming better and better at something that matters. And it connects that quest for excellence to a larger purpose." Pink goes into great detail, with lots of examples, on how to create this kind of environment.

Grew Four Times Faster — to back up his assertions, Pink quotes a Cornell University study of 320 small businesses, "half of which granted workers autonomy, the other half relying on top-down direction. The businesses that offered autonomy grew at four times the rate of the control-oriented firms and had one-third the (employee) turnover."

Nine Ideas for Helping our Children (Parents and Teachers) — Pink also applies his findings to raising and educating children including thoughts on homework, DIY (Do It Yourself) Report Cards, how to offer praise, and a list of five schools in the US that develop intrinsic motivation. The one idea that hit home immediately was the importance of NOT linking allowance to chores. My wife and I have been doing this and we now see our mistake – something we plan to discuss with our four children when we finish our summer vacation. Go to the Table of Contents and locate this short chapter in the book (he also has a short chapter summarizing the entire book called Drive: The Recap).

Quiznos' and Burger King's One-Page Plans — Greg Brenneman, the former CEO of PwC, Burger King, Quiznos, and President of Continental Airlines, engaged our audience at the Fortune Leadership Summit, discussing the simple tools and techniques he's used to lead or invest in over 50 companies. One of those tools is a simple one-page plan he creates for each company. Just this week he sent us copies of the one-page plans he used to turnaround Quiznos and Burger King, which we've included as a download in his online presentation.

Greg Brenneman's Online Seminar — Greg also gave us permission to turn his 60 minute presentation into an online seminar you can share with your entire team (or review if you attended the Summit) – chunked into bite-sized pieces so you can consume a few minutes at a time while doing email if you prefer to learn that way. Again, the one-page plans are included as part of getting the online seminar. Learn from one of the top business leaders for a small fee (covers production and deployment costs). Here's a link to purchase an individual license or company license.

Knowledge once gained may be used again and again.