The Motivation Myth
Mattison Grey and Jonathan Manske
CreateSpace
Nonfiction, Business/Self-Help
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Description
For decades, we have been told that praise and positive recognition lead to increased happiness, improved work performance, and better
lives... yet most of us are just as miserable as ever. The "feedback sandwich" - slipping negatives between layers of positives - has been
force-fed to workers, clients, children, and spouses until we're all ready to choke. Businesses spend millions of dollars annually on pep
rallies and seminars to boost morale, but none of it ever seems to take. We should be swimming in motivation, but we're drowning in
mediocrity.
What's wrong?
The problem, according to Grey and Manske, is a fundamental flaw in how we understand and interact with our fellow human beings. It's not
praise that we're seeking, nor is it criticism. It's the simple, yet powerful, act of acknowledgement. Using this, they have turned
underachievers into go-getters, saved business and personal relationships... in short, they've managed to achieve the results that all those
pricey motivation speakers and feedback sandwiches have failed to produce. Learn how to use acknowledgement to improve your own life, and find
the key to truly motivating yourself and others.
Review
Backing their claims with numerous studies, articles, and anecdotes, Grey and Manske explain what many of us know: just as negative feedback leads to poor performance and self-image, positive feedback often leads to second-guessing, skepticism, or even fear of moving out of one's comfort zone. They offer many, many studies, articles, and anecdotes... too many, in my opinion. Between that, and the way they string readers along for four full chapters before even explaining what their book is about, my eyes tended to glaze over. I'm not discounting the idea of acknowledgement as a powerful communication tool, but this book would've been more effective at one-third to half its current length.