Daniel H. Pink Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Daniel Pink is an American science, Business, and nonfiction author. His book When was named
the best book of 2018 by Amazon and iBooks and spent four months on the New York Times
bestseller list.

‘A Whole New Mind’ is a long-running New York Times bestseller, while ‘Drive’ and ‘To Sell Is
Human’ are New York Times best sellers. Most of his books have received multiple awards and
have been translated into 39 languages.

Drive: Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.

In this novel, the author discusses what motivates or pushes people to complete assignments.
He goes on to state the different kinds of drives in humans, which are biological, extrinsic, and
intrinsic. Biological drives include the urge to eat to satisfy hunger and drink to quench thirst.
Extrinsic drive is when one is rewarded after completing work or punished when one fails to
work. In other words, it may be termed rewards and punishment. To some people, Work can be

torture, so there are structures of incentives and disincentives to regulate laziness among
employees.
Lastly, the intrinsic drive is whereby humans get satisfaction from the performance of the
assignment instead of its result. The evidence of this third drive is how people appear to find
satisfaction in accomplishing tasks. In simple terms, people are usually intrinsically motivated to
work and give results.
Daniel further shows the disadvantages of possessing extrinsic motivation and why reward
doesn’t mean anything, as it reduces the chances of creativity. This means that extrinsic drive
doesn’t help people solve underlying problems wholly.

He further discusses the different types of human behaviours. The first is Type X, which consists
of people who derive motivation from rewards that give them short-lived satisfaction but lack
long-run benefits.
Type I is a group of people who are satisfied with the activity and not the reward awarded in
the end. Institutions and people with Type I behaviour often value the long-term results. This
raises the question of how to have intrinsic drive and a mindset of Type I.

Type I people are known to possess three characteristics: autonomy, Mastery, and purpose.
One way of motivating employees is to give them purpose, mastery, and independence. If any
of the three needs to be included, they might not be encouraged to do the tasks assigned.
Pink goes further to state that the solution to when employees seem detached is to stop
focusing on rewards and punishments and rather pay attention to how inspired they are. Once
they are inspired, they feel like human beings, and it becomes easier to engage their intrinsic
drive.

Self-determination theory at work becomes more fascinating when money and the third drive
are combined. For more complex tasks, rewards and punishments, in other words, normally
hinder performance. Though they help in the short run, workers with the third drive mostly
outperform the donkey in the long run.

The author suggests that the most important thing an employer can do to increase
performance is to take money off the table and offer a fair wage, depending on the level of
performance. As long as people make enough money and are treated fairly, money will help
them perform well. Once that point is reached, as an employer, this is the best time to offer
mastery, autonomy, and purpose.

The novel highlights the gap between what science knows and what businesses still do. In the
past, traditional companies operated on the theory that good work is rewarded with extra pay.
However, this system sometimes doesn’t work, as it can cause more harm than good, as people
might skip some steps while focusing on the end reward.

Research has shown that not all people are motivated by financial rewards; some are fulfilled
by autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Rewards can motivate people to do tasks as long as they are repetitious, but only for tasks that
require less creativity. Conversely, rewards backfire if the tasks require creativity or original
thinking. Daniel Pink’s analysis of self-determination theory and how it affects motivation is
intriguing.

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

People mostly believe that timing is everything, yet they don’t have much information on the
timing itself. Life is filled with an infinite series of ‘when’ decisions. When to attend an
interview? When to go to school? When to start a business? They usually make such decisions
based on guesswork and intuition.

Timing is mainly viewed as an art, but Daniel Pink shows how it’s a science in this novel.
Through his economics, psychology, and biology research, he shows how one can best work,

live, and succeed. How can people use the unclear patterns of the day to come up with an ideal
schedule? How do some breaks drastically improve student scores? How can one turn an
unsure beginning into a fresh start?

Why is singing with other people as good as body exercise? Why should people avoid visiting
the hospital during the morning hours? When is the best time to get married or quit a job?
When making crucial life decisions, what one goes for requires a lot of consideration. Does it
matter when one takes the first cup of coffee? Can the time of day that we make a decision
affect anything? Does the time of day affect how well someone performs at work? According to
Daniel Pink, it obviously does.

Even though he doesn’t state the best time to do something to succeed or be happy, he makes
it clear that not everyone can control their work surroundings when they are in the job market.
Pink also suggests ways of dealing with unideal work conditions while giving tips for improving
daily life. The author discusses the importance of good and bad timing in the novel. First, he
explains how human chronotype determines mood and ability to work any time of the day. He

also highlights how it affects ethical and professional judgements and human physical function.
The author supports his ideas with data and graphs, as the research is evident in each

paragraph. The data is supported with a comprehensive notes section in the reference section
of each chapter, and there are also some suggestions for further reading.

The salient points for each section have been compressed into summaries filled with hints and
tips and some practical exercises at the end of each of the initial six chapters. Before the novel's
end, you’ll understand why some people have a mid-life crisis while others don’t.
This novel is ideal for educators, schedulers, company executives and bosses. It is also suitable
for someone trying to build a perfect schedule or have a fresh as it discusses the factor of time
in many dimensions.

The novel also discusses the hidden pattern of everyday life, starting points, midpoints, and
endings. Everyone in the book can learn something.