Robert Paterson has done a great piece on Trust – Identity Social Capital Motivation and Blogging which I’d urge you to read.
Inspired by Alfie Kohn’s Punished by Rewards and Francis Fukuyama’s Trust the Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, he writes
Kohn makes a strong case for rewards being counterproductive as they break community, taint the activity and become an end in themselves. Fukyama makes the case for how centralization creates helplessness, social atomization and social and economic failure and how people become most fulfilled and are most motivated by recognition in the context of a purpose and a community.
In the major part of this post I will extend these ideas and make the case for how blogging will drive the internal motivation that is strongest in us – having a voice that is recognized – and how it helps us make the choices in activity that makes any activity the most attractive. Finally I will talk about how these ideas can form the basis of how we can find another process for leadership other than command and control.
I love the way Robert writes and I agree with his arguments for “A purpose driven community that has a powerful and noble goal that extends beyond the self interest of the individual”. Now how would you like that as a definition of a brand?
(And if you like this entry, check out Rob’s extened series on Moving from Alchemy to Chemistry – The workplace today)
