Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, gave a fascinating presentation at the TEDGlobal conference, about motivation and the mismatch between what science knows and what business does.

Dan examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories – and maybe, a way forward.

He suggests that current business environments rely too heavily on extrinsic motivators (such as financial rewards), which can actually result in negative or reverse effects on behavior and performance, rather than focusing on what science tells us, which is that by fostering peoples’ intrinsic motivation (individual needs and desires), they often perform better and are more personally satisfied.