Give the proper tools to a group of people that want to make a difference, and they will.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google

Outside factors used to work extremely well as incentives for motivation. A paycheck or a company car or an annual raise or a Christmas bonus, all used to be sufficient prodding devices capable of goading workers into meeting deadlines and out-performing their previous personal bests. The so called “guarantee” of a paycheck every other week used to be impetus enough. It was, and in many cases still is, an openly accepted method of inciting workers to do what many bosses, CEOs and managers believe that their workers do best–work.

The motivation, drive, purpose, heart and stimulus underlying why people work and what they work for is in a state of transformation. This work-foundation remodeling presents a unique opportunity for leaders because many of the past, most frequently applied, extrinsic motivators no longer have the same persuasive effects or carry the same weight as they once did.

In many fields today (but not all), American workers are no longer responsible for assembly-line-esq gadget making. Large and small organizations alike ship their gadget making and their nitty-gritty code writing overseas, saving substantial sums of money, time and resources, thus creating a void of traditional work for the gadget makers.

Insert creativity, innovation and wise use of time here.

People don’t want to work just for money any more. Gadget makers were gadget makers because that’s what was required, and those were the jobs available. Gadget making jobs are quickly disappearing while creative jobs, which require great understanding and leadership, are appearing everywhere. The challenging issue is that you can’t compensate a creative job worker the same way you would have compensated a gadget maker; you can’t incentivize their jobs in the same way; and you can’t expect them to stay busy for 8 hours a day either–wasting time doing invaluable busy work.

And you don’t have to.

If you simply allow creative people to do what they do best–create–then you give them the opportunity to draw from their own intrinsic, heart-felt, passionate motivations, and, when that occurs, everyone moves forward together. Progress and innovation and growth occur when people are free to work on what they are passionate about, when they can communicate openly with everyone within an organization, when they are allowed to form their own teams and their own projects based on their own initiative and ideas.

Workers want to work for a cause, for something that adds value to lots of peoples lives. They want to make an impact on the world not just the bottom line.

Hold on to your creatives at all costs. Allow them the opportunity to be innovative, to build teams within the office environment and to break down bureaucratic walls which hinder communication and progress. Learn (quickly!) how best to nurture the intrinsic motivations which those who work for you and with you so long to implement.

Don’t make monkeys out of your creatives.

Constraint offers an unparalleled opportunity for growth and innovation.

–Scott Dadich, creative director, Wired

The over-indulgence era is over. Our generation will not be defined by gluttony, excessive spending, TV, irresponsible waste, extreme credit card debt, bottled water, SUVs, tourism tag lines, oil, news media, egregious poverty in large populations all over the world, Hollywood culture, the pursuit of more, knowing much yet doing little, a lack of great leadership, apathy or lukewarm faithlessness.

Or will it?

Understanding that which we don’t want is just as important as understanding that which we do. In understanding what we don’t want we aim to eliminate any chance of investing poorly into a situation, opportunity, venture or relationship that may lead to adverse consequences in the future. By eliminating these poor investments, we are able to allocate our resources into ventures and relationships and opportunities that we truly do want or that will be pertinent and worthwhile to our lives and the lives of others in the future**.

Downfall, many times, can be partly attributed to not fully understanding that which we do not want and focusing nearly exclusively on that which we do. In other words, a lack of disciplined thinking and robust understanding. By comprehending what we don’t want as well as what we do, we are able to hone in on what is genuinely important to our lives and what we can actually do without. This focus allows us to eliminate selfish, wasteful living.

Absolute freedom to choose and design our lives how we see fit almost always leads to chaos or unhappiness. On the other hand, as Dadich states above, the implementation of constraint allows for great innovation and revolutionary progress. Define your constraints–what you want and don’t want, what you believe and don’t believe–and go create a life that humbly helps a lot of people.

**Disclaimer What’s important to understand is that having a greater comprehension of what you do not want does not give you title to only do that which you want and avoid the tasks and work that you do not. Quite the opposite. You still have to work very hard, many times doing things which you do not care for. All I am attempting to relay is the fact that if you understand what you don’t want you can avoid wasting a lot of time, money and resources on those things and instead use them to invest in things which accomplish a greater good, regardless of how much work or sacrifice may be involved.

Successful start-up leaders begin by investing a substantial amount of time and energy into why–not what. The what question, over a certain profitable period of time, tends to cultivate bloated egos, nourish greedy arrogance and decimate clear, passionate vision. The why question, on the other hand, continuously feeds and focuses us on a deeper passion–something bigger than our own selves. The why question builds channels instead of corporate ladders; promotes humility instead of hubris; reinforces ardent vision instead of blurring lines and weaving doubt.

The why question is crucial to the start. You have to know why you are going to begin, to change, to move, to quit, to revolt, to organize or to lead before you ever take that first step of action; ask for that first team member’s commitment or pitch that first venture capitalist. You must know and deeply understand why.

In the end, when our lives are drawing to a close, it will matter what we did, but, even more importantly, it will matter why we did it. This simple insight levels the playing field. When the question takes into consideration why and not just what, it creates an opportunity for every man, woman, child and organization to have an impact, to be successful, to lead, to authentically serve another. Success is no longer based solely upon what it is that you do; rather, success is also based in large part upon why you passionately and fervently do what you do.

Of course, it’s crucial to comprehend that the why does not eliminate the need for a well planned and well executed what. You still have to work extremely hard, but the better you understand and the more often you remember the why, the stronger more resilient your what will be.

The most successful leaders understand that in order to maintain success and continually grow, they must always go back to their founding principals of why. Once we start to focus only on what it is that we do–instead of why–arrogance and selfishness have chance to brew and fester. Jim Collins in his latest book How The Mighty Fall says it well

Like an artist who pursues both enduring excellence and shocking creativity, great companies foster a productive tension between continuity and change. On the one hand, they adhere to the principles that produced success in the first place, yet on the other hand, they continually evolve, modifying their approach with creative improvements and intelligent adaption…Every organization must ask themselves: Why were we successful in the first place? Not the specific practices and strategies that worked in the past, but the fundamental reasons for success.

The question of why you do what you do is vital to everything else–it’s the groundwork, the foundation, the heart, the inner-most-core reason for you waking up tomorrow morning. Why do you_____, _______, ______(fill in the blanks)? Once you understand why, then you can passionately and full-heartedly chase after what it is that is going to allow you to demonstrate that why, every single day.

We tend to believe that our lives will go on forever. We convince ourselves that we’ll never grow out of our early 20′s. We assume that our best days are inevitably ahead of us…

…but what if you lost it all? What if everything that you currently hold near and dear suddenly disappears or is taken from your life? What if you wake up tomorrow morning and your house or your car or your family or your bank account or your business or your retirement stash or your dog or your feet or your wardrobe or your mental capacity or your boat or your kitchen cabinets overflowing with your food or your anything was suddenly non-existent? Could you, would you, still continue to thrive? Would you still have enough fuel–the right kind of fuel–to get through the day?

As people, vague as that may sound, we lose sight of what genuinely, deeply fuels us. We are easily distracted by possessions and silly material gains which, by way of self-permission, trick us into believing that they really are what truly fuels us. We get so caught up in random things that they actually start to define who we portray ourselves to be and eventually set the boundaries for who we believe we genuinely are.

What fuels you? If things are your source of motivation–why you wake up each morning, why you work, why you interact with others, why you serve, why you live–then you need to drain and refuel differently. What if you lost everything that you currently believe fuels you, that gives you the energy and nourishment to live each day? How would you respond?

Fuel up wisely.

Their success was not just of their own making.  It was a product of the world in which they grew up.  -Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers

The great thing about the way in which information frolics about the universe today is that you simply do not have to know everything.

This recovering book addict–yours truly–used to read books solely in order to gain knowledge.  I believed that the more I read, the more I would learn, and hence, the better my life would eventually be.  Today, however, I read books for a deeper reason–to make connections and build relationships.  I’ve come to realize that the common ground held by multiple people or multiple groups, all of whom have a congruent knowledge base yet maintain their unique perspective, is more important to my gaining of understanding than any knowledge I may accrue from reading a book and keeping that knowledge to myself.  No longer is it about how much information I can process and store, rather; it is about the experience and information which I can share, teach and trade with others. I believe this is one of the greatest assets any avid life-long-learner can realize.  The personal gain acquired through reading and simply storing something revolutionary is far out-weighed by the joy and satisfaction gained from sharing your newly discovered insights and selections of wisdom.  Wisdom learned yet not shared, knowledge gained but never discussed, is of no benefit to anyone, and I believe that one of the most genuine ways to learn and to grow is to share and communicate what it is that you have gathered along the way.  That is why people write, why they communicate, why they spread seed and why they decide to tell their story.

You no longer have to know it all.  As Gladwell states, many times our successes are less dependent upon our own selves (the so called “making our own way” theory) and more dependent upon how well we utilize the environments in which we currently live, work, communicate and play.  For this simple reason, you no longer have to know it all.  Feel better?  More at peace?  Relaxed yet?  You should be.  There is little peace in knowing “everything” and there is rarely enough time to develop real relationships with others along the way.  And yet, it is the very relationships which we do develop which often times prove to be far more crucial to the evolution of our successful ideas than is the knowledge gained through the attempt to “know it all”.

Remember the kid in 4th grade who thought he knew it all and always walked into the classroom, head held high, believing that he really did?  I remember him.  I also remember that no one liked him. No one likes a know-it-all.  On the other hand, people do like those who seek out what they know, and who long to partner with them in order to benefit from their specific knowledge.  Great success is not about knowing everything. Great success is about putting the pieces together. He knows this, I need him.  She knows that, I need her.  We know this, they will need us.  Contrary to your popular belief, you are not the sole factor of your success.  The truth is, we need each other.  Why?  Because none of us will ever know it all, and we need each other to fill in our own missing gaps.

Success is not just about learning and storing as much as you can.  Success is also about spreading what you know, and partnering with others who know what you don’t.  It is not necessarily all about you, rather, it is about how well you utilize the environment of people all around you.

This observation, of course, has not been scientifically tested.  I have no way of proving that we really are or are not in a period of increased high-end automobile sales in Indianapolis.   I simply don’t have the numbers.  However, I do have a plethora of personal observations pertaining to the world around me, and when you’re accustomed to seeing $300,000.00 Bentley’s driven nearly exclusively by James Bond, it comes as quite an initial surprise when you see them pulling up beside you every other day at the grocery store.

I really enjoy the beauty of the Bentley.  There’s just something incredible about the power and design intrinsic to the car that makes it irresistibly hard to ignore.  I like high-end vehicles, and I think that as many people who can afford them and want them should have them. On one condition…

…you first ask yourself why (insert name here:______,why?).  We are perpetually in search of the latest, greatest, fastest, shiniest things available.  We want to partake in shiny trips, drive shiny cars, talk on shiny phones, sleep in shiny boxes, and wear shiny clothes.  The world is full of shiny gizmodos and gadgetos and sleek materials that wet our insatiable thirsts momentarily but always leave us longing for more. Is there anything wrong with owning some or even all of this shininess? Of course not.   But, before you upgrade to that new, slightly better productpalooza or purchase your first, fully-loaded Bentley, ask yourself why.  Why must you have whatever it is that you have to have?

Here’s the Should-I-Own-A-Bentley Test:

1. How much pain is going to be associated with this purchase right now and in 4 years from now? In other words, if I can’t walk in and pay cash for it right now, without thinking about it, then how much am I going to be thinking about it over the next few years (on a month-to-month basis)? Will this decision one day cause me pain?  What’s the Joy : Pain ratio, and are you objectively satisfied with that ratio?
2. Who gets to ride in the passenger seat? If you can buy a Bentley, but you can’t give the homeless woman on the street corner (carrying her entire life on her back!) a ride to her make shift home, under the overpass, 3 blocks away, because you’re afraid she might scuff the leather dash, then you should not own a Bentley. Who you allow to ride in your Bentley says a lot about who you are and whether or not you should own one. If the car becomes more important than the people you could be serving with it, than you shouldn’t own that car.