Want motivated employees? Hire motivated people and don’t do stupid stuff that demotivates them.

Every senior executive and every leader at every level who has participated in a Route 2 leadership or team development project has heard those words.

Edward Deci in his book,  Why We Do What We Do, says it much more eloquently…

“The proper question is not, ‘How can people motivate others?’, but rather, “How can people create the proper conditions within which people will motivate themselves?’”

…and a southern variation, “You can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse, and a silk purse doesn’t belong in a pig pen.”  I’m the Outsider and that’s what I think.