Why Motivating People Doesn''t Work and What Does

Have you ever wondered why all your efforts to motivate someone—whether it’s an employee, a student, or even yourself—sometimes fall flat? Despite praise, bonuses, and pep talks, people often remain disengaged or inconsistent in their drive. In Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work … and What Does, leadership expert Susan Fowler tackles this dilemma head-on. Drawing on decades of behavioral science and field experience with The Ken Blanchard Companies, Fowler argues that the problem isn’t that people aren’t motivated—it’s that leaders focus on the wrong kind of motivation.

Fowler insists that the prevailing model—what she calls the “Pecking Pigeon Paradigm”—is outdated. This carrot-and-stick approach assumes that rewards and punishments drive performance. While incentives might produce temporary results, they erode long-term engagement and well-being. Real motivation, she explains, comes from within, powered by the fulfillment of three fundamental psychological needs: autonomy (feeling free to choose), relatedness (feeling connected and cared about), and competence (feeling effective and growing). Her argument echoes the principles of Edward Deci and Richard Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory and expands them into a leadership model she calls Optimal Motivation.

The Motivation Dilemma

Modern organizations face what Fowler calls “the Motivation Dilemma.” Leaders are expected to motivate their people—but, ironically, motivation is not something you can do to someone else. People are always motivated; the real question is why they are motivated. Consider her example from baseball: in 2002, Boston Red Sox executive Larry Lucchino tried to lure Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane with a record-breaking salary and perks. Beane turned it down. His decision exposed a truth about human motivation: acting from love, family commitment, and purpose can override financial incentives. Trying to “motivate” a person who’s already driven by deeper values is futile—and attempting to manipulate that motivation can even backfire.

The Spectrum of Motivation: Six Outlooks

Fowler reframes motivation as a spectrum rather than a binary (motivated or not). Her Spectrum of Motivation Model identifies six distinct motivational outlooks, each reflecting the quality—not the quantity—of a person’s motivation:

• Disinterested – Lacking any sense of meaning or value in the activity. (“This meeting is a waste of my time.”)
• External – Acting for tangible rewards or recognition. (“I’ll do it for the bonus.”)
• Imposed – Acting from pressure, guilt, or fear. (“I have to, or I’ll disappoint my boss.”)
• Aligned – Linking the action to personal values. (“I value teamwork, so I’ll help out.”)
• Integrated – Connecting the action to a larger life purpose. (“This goal aligns with who I want to be.”)
• Inherent – Doing something simply because it’s enjoyable. (“I love solving challenging problems.”)

The first three categories are suboptimal—what she calls “motivational junk food.” They might boost short-term effort, but they drain energy and don’t sustain performance. The latter three, the “motivational health food” outlooks, nourish enduring engagement, creativity, and well-being. The leader’s challenge is to help people “shift” from low-quality to high-quality motivation by creating an environment that supports autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

Why This Matters to You

Whether you manage a team, teach students, raise kids, or lead a community, Fowler’s message applies directly. She’s not asking you to give up rewards or accountability but to rethink their purpose. Instead of dangling carrots or setting up contests, she encourages something far more effective: conversations that help people reconnect to their own reasons for acting—what she calls “Motivational Outlook Conversations.”

In these conversations, your role isn’t to fix, persuade, or reward. It’s to ask insightful questions: “Why is this important to you?” or “How does this align with your values?” Sometimes the most powerful thing a leader can do is be quiet, listen deeply, and trust people’s inherent drive to succeed. Fowler tells the story of an engineer named Himesh who changed his entire leadership approach after realizing that enforcing safety rules through punishment created resentment. Instead, he began asking his team what safety meant to them—transforming compliance into commitment.

From Carrots and Sticks to Science and Skill

The heart of Fowler’s approach rests on modern motivation science, particularly decades of research by psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. Their work shows that people thrive when their environment supports these three psychological needs:

• Autonomy – The feeling of choice and volition. You want to choose, not be coerced.
• Relatedness – The feeling of caring about and being cared for. You want to feel connected.
• Competence – The feeling of mastery and growth. You want to know you’re capable.

When any of these is undermined—by micromanagement, toxic culture, or meaningless goals—motivation slips into suboptimal territory. While carrots and sticks may “work” temporarily, they don’t cultivate thriving. Fowler’s key point is that motivation is a skill. Like learning to play an instrument or a sport, you can develop the awareness and habits to choose better quality motivation for yourself and teach others to do the same.

A New Science of Leading and Living

The book unfolds in seven chapters, moving from theory to practice. You’ll explore why the “drive” mentality is dangerous and how self-regulation—anchored in mindfulness, values, and purpose (what Fowler calls the MVPs)—helps you sustain motivation under pressure. You’ll learn to facilitate “shift conversations” that transform compliance into commitment. You’ll also confront the unspoken beliefs that erode motivation: that business isn’t personal, that profit trumps purpose, or that results matter more than people.

By the end, Fowler’s message is both practical and deeply hopeful: when leaders stop trying to motivate others and start facilitating what already exists inside them, people flourish. They don’t just perform—they thrive. And thriving, Fowler reminds us, is the ultimate fuel for sustainable success, innovation, and human joy.

What truly motivates you? Susan Fowler’s answer is surprisingly simple but profoundly human: your deepest fuel comes from satisfying three psychological needs—autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Together, they form what she calls the ARC of human motivation. When these needs are fulfilled, you experience vitality, engagement, and a lasting sense of purpose. When they are thwarted, you feel drained, disengaged, and stuck in suboptimal motivation.

Autonomy: The Freedom to Choose

Autonomy means perceiving that you have choices and that your actions align with your own volition. Fowler describes feeding a baby—every parent knows the moment the child grabs the spoon and insists on doing it themselves. That drive to control one’s actions doesn’t vanish with age; it’s part of human nature. As Viktor Frankl wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning, even in a concentration camp, people could choose their attitude—autonomy is the last human freedom.

In the workplace, autonomy doesn’t mean chaos or absence of rules—it means influence and ownership. Research shows that when employees can stop an assembly line, design their own work processes, or contribute to decisions that affect them, productivity and well-being increase. Even blue-collar workers thrive when they can choose how to carry out a task rather than being told exactly how. Autonomy explains why over-controlling leadership styles—micromanaging every task, dictating every deadline—inevitably sap energy and creativity.

Relatedness: The Need to Belong and Contribute

Relatedness is your need to care and be cared for—to feel that what you do connects to something or someone bigger than yourself. Fowler vividly illustrates this with a story from a keynote speech to global executives: when she noticed the entire audience on their phones, she simply stopped talking. The room eventually went silent. She then invited a conversation about why everyone stayed disengaged. The breakthrough came when participants realized they were starved for human connection—constantly emailing from isolation—and not meeting their need for relatedness at work.

This need isn’t fluffy or optional. When people feel excluded or manipulated, they disengage. When they feel emotionally supported, seen, and trusted, they go above and beyond. As researcher Jacques Forest observes, you can’t compensate for missing relatedness with after-hours friendships; if work consumes 75% of your waking life, your relationships there must also fulfill your social needs.

Competence: The Thrill of Mastery

Competence is the need to feel effective—to see yourself mastering challenges and making progress. Fowler likens it to a baby learning to walk: they fall, laugh, and get back up. That same delight in growth powers adults, too. But in many organizations, competence is undermined. Companies cut training budgets, reserve learning for executives, or focus solely on outcomes. As Fowler points out, how often do you ask your team, “What did you learn today?” instead of “What did you achieve?” That small shift in focus from results to growth can profoundly affect morale and long-term performance.

When employees aren’t learning or feel micromanaged, their sense of competence erodes—and with it, motivation. Conversely, when they see themselves improving and contributing in meaningful ways, they gain confidence and momentum. This is why high-quality coaching, mentoring, and feedback are less about evaluation and more about skill-building.

Working with the ARC Domino Effect

These three needs are intertwined. Fowler calls it the “ARC Domino Effect.” When one falls—say, autonomy is undermined by a controlling manager—relatedness and competence tumble too. Imagine an employee whose boss rewrites her reports every quarter even though she’s capable. The micromanagement kills her autonomy. Soon she doubts her competence (“Maybe I really can’t do this”) and feels disconnected from her manager—a breakdown in relatedness. Without realizing it, the leader’s behavior has destroyed the foundation for motivation.

The good news: satisfying these needs doesn’t require big budgets or perks. It demands awareness, empathy, and communication. It’s the leader asking, “How can I help you feel more in control of your work?” or “What’s meaningful about this goal for you?” Fulfilling ARC isn’t a reward system—it’s a relationship system. And when leaders satisfy autonomy, relatedness, and competence, people don’t just engage—they flourish.

We often idolize the “driven” individual—the tireless worker who powers through obstacles and never stops until they win. But Susan Fowler warns that being driven may not be a badge of honor. In fact, the question isn’t how driven you are but what’s driving you. When external forces such as fear, ego, or the hunger for approval take the wheel, you lose control of your internal compass. The result isn’t sustainable success—it’s burnout.

When Drive Becomes Dangerous

Fowler tells the story of Brandt, a talented executive who described himself as “intensely driven.” Though successful, he constantly felt anxious and exhausted. Digging deeper, he discovered his drive came from a need to impress his legendary father. His motivation was external (praise and status) and imposed (fear of disapproval). These suboptimal outlooks created stress, guilt, and imbalance. Only when Brandt recognized the emotional roots of his drive could he begin the real work—replacing control and fear with awareness and purpose.

Fowler contrasts this with the “anti-drive” mindset: people who are internally guided by autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Their energy isn’t frantic; it’s expansive. Thriving people don’t need someone—or something—driving them forward; their work becomes a natural expression of who they are.

Self-Regulation: The Vertical Axis of Motivation

The key to moving from drive to thriving is self-regulation—the ability to mindfully manage your thoughts, emotions, and actions in line with your values and purpose. Fowler calls self-regulation the “vertical axis” of her Spectrum of Motivation model. It’s what keeps you centered when circumstances threaten your psychological needs. Without self-regulation, even the best intentions can be derailed by stress, temptation, or environmental pressures.

Fowler uses the famous Stanford “marshmallow experiments” to illustrate this principle. Children who resisted eating a marshmallow immediately, holding out for a second one later, demonstrated superior self-regulation. Years later, those same children showed higher life success and well-being. Yet, later research revealed something deeper: when children didn’t trust that the promised second marshmallow would come, they gave up earlier. Their environment—whether reliable or not—directly affected their self-regulation capacity. In the same way, people regulate better when they trust their leaders and workplace environment.

The MVPs of Self-Regulation

Fowler identifies three tools—the MVPs—that strengthen self-regulation: Mindfulness, Values, and Purpose.

• Mindfulness allows you to notice your feelings without judgment and choose a response rather than react. Brain scans show that mindfulness activates the same regions associated with autonomy and well-being. Fowler recounts a plant manager, Donna, who began taking short “mindfulness moments” before meetings. Within weeks, even her teenage daughter noticed she was calmer and less reactive.
• Values act as your compass. Many people can recite their company’s values but not their own. Clarifying personal work-related values helps you align actions with what truly matters. For example, choosing collaboration over ego in a conflict refocuses energy on growth instead of resentment.
• Purpose is the deepest source of motivation—the noble reason behind your actions. Fowler tells the story of a tollbooth operator who treated his booth as a stage, dancing and singing as he collected fares. His purpose wasn’t to collect fees but to spread joy and connection—and that purpose made him a peak performer.

Putting Self-Regulation into Practice

Self-regulation transforms daily frustrations into opportunities for growth. When something threatens your autonomy, you can pause, reflect mindfully, and ask, “What’s really at stake?” When emotions flare, values bring clarity: “Which value do I want to uphold right now?” And purpose reminds you that every task—no matter how small—can serve a greater good. As motivation researcher Edward Deci once told Fowler, mindful self-regulation doesn’t suppress emotion; it channels it into constructive, meaningful action.

Drive, then, isn’t inherently bad—it’s just an external energy source. To thrive, you must replace external control with inner guidance. Self-regulation provides that internal steering wheel, helping you navigate toward choices and actions that satisfy autonomy, relatedness, and competence. In Fowler’s words: “People can’t always control the world around them—but they can learn how to drive, instead of being driven.”

Motivation isn’t a secret ingredient some people are born with—it’s a teachable skill. Susan Fowler insists that everyone can learn to identify their motivational state, consciously shift it, and reflect to sustain it. The process is not about manipulating energy levels but about improving the quality of that energy. Her framework involves learning three practical skills: identifying your current motivational outlook, shifting to or maintaining an optimal one, and reflecting to reinforce well-being.

Skill 1: Identify Your Current Motivational Outlook

You start by naming what really drives you. Are you energized by imposed pressure, external rewards, or intrinsic values? Fowler suggests using the six motivational outlooks to self-diagnose. For example, if you’re trying to lose weight, are you motivated by fear of disappointing your doctor (imposed) or by a desire for health and vitality (aligned)? Self-awareness reveals the quality of your motivation.

This step involves assessing your satisfaction with ARC (autonomy, relatedness, competence) and your use of the MVPs (mindfulness, values, purpose). When these components are low quality, motivation suffers. Simply pausing to notice whether you’re acting from fear or fulfillment can spark insight—even before you make changes.

Skill 2: Shift to or Maintain an Optimal Motivational Outlook

Once you know where you are, you decide where you want to be. Fowler explains how to consciously move from suboptimal to optimal states:

• Disinterested → Engagement through relevance: Ask, “Why might this matter to me?”
• External → Reconnection to values: Instead of chasing rewards, find meaning in contribution.
• Imposed → Ownership: Recognize you are choosing this action, even under pressure.
• Aligned / Integrated → Reinforcement: Connect your values or purpose to the activity.
• Inherent → Flow: Do what you love, but stay mindful of balance.

Techniques for shifting include taking “mindfulness moments,” asking “why” repeatedly to reach a deeper reason, aligning actions with developed values, and connecting goals to a noble purpose. Fowler’s vegetarian story captures this: after watching a program about animal cruelty, she didn’t need discipline to stop eating meat—it felt right because it matched her values and purpose. That’s what an integrated outlook looks like: effortless commitment.

Skill 3: Reflect to Strengthen Well-Being

Reflection turns awareness into mastery. Fowler advises asking, “How do I feel now?” Positive well-being signals that your psychological needs are met. A lack of well-being shows that something’s off—perhaps you’ve drifted into external pressure or fear. Notice physical sensations, emotions, and energy levels to stay attuned. As AkzoNobel’s corporate health director Dirk Veldhort told Fowler, “Well-being isn’t fluffy—it’s essential. Without it, short-term productivity is less probable and long-term growth nearly impossible.”

Reflection also helps sustain optimal states. It builds gratitude and reinforces intrinsic enjoyment. Leaders who master reflection not only keep themselves grounded but serve as models for their teams, showing that motivation can—and should—be actively managed, not passively endured.

Ultimately, learning these three skills makes you a practitioner of what Fowler calls self-leadership. Motivation becomes less about “how hard you push” and more about “how clearly you choose.” That distinction turns motivation from a temporary impulse into a lifelong capability. Like any skill, it strengthens with use—and leaders who develop it can help others do the same.

If motivating people doesn’t work, what can leaders actually do? Susan Fowler’s answer: help them make the shift themselves. A leader’s role is to create the conditions and conversations that let people discover higher-quality motivation. She calls these interactions “Motivational Outlook Conversations” (or simply “outlook conversations”). Their purpose is to guide—not push—people toward autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

Why Motivation Conversations Matter

Outlook conversations aren’t about problem-solving or persuasion; they’re about understanding. Fowler shares the story of a manager who asked a remote employee to give up his office to another teammate who came in daily. The employee refused, saying the office symbolized his status. The manager assumed she had touched his “motivator” (status). In reality, she missed a chance to help him explore deeper values like fairness and belonging. A skillful conversation could have transformed a standoff into a team-building opportunity.

What Leaders Should Not Do

Fowler cautions leaders to avoid three traps:

• Don’t problem-solve. Fixing the issue for someone doesn’t change their motivation—only their dependence.
• Don’t impose your values. Leaders often assume others share their ideals, but that leads to manipulation rather than meaning.
• Don’t expect instant change. Motivation shifts over time; as Fowler says, some conversations are “time bombs” that go off later.

How to Conduct an Outlook Conversation

Effective conversations follow Fowler’s three-skill model—identify, shift, reflect—but applied to others. Start by checking your own mindset. You can’t facilitate optimal motivation if you’re stressed or resentful. Preparing yourself may be the most crucial step. Once ready, invite the other person to reflect openly:

• Identify: Ask how they feel about the situation. Listen for clues—is their language full of “I have to” (imposed) or “I get to” (aligned)?
• Shift: Explore their options and values. Use the “Power of Why” to peel back layers of reason until they reach a meaningful core.
• Reflect: Encourage them to notice changes in energy and well-being. End the conversation with awareness, not assignments.

Fowler illustrates this with “Sonny,” a young salesman who claimed he was in it for the money. By asking him “why” repeatedly, the facilitator helped Sonny realize his true motivation: gratitude for his parents’ sacrifices. His motivation shifted from external (money) to aligned (love and purpose), transforming how he felt about work.

In another story, Simon, a defiant engineer, resented being assigned a scheduling project. Through conversation, he connected the task to his personal values—efficiency and teamwork—realizing that improving scheduling would give him and his colleagues more free time. The shift turned resentment into enthusiasm.

Leading Motivation with Empathy and Trust

Fowler emphasizes that leadership is not a title or a role—it’s a practice. Great leadership takes emotional labor: noticing feelings, managing your own reactions, and inviting meaningful dialogue. As one trainee, Walter, discovered, simply offering to listen rekindled a team member’s sense of relatedness and prevented a resignation. The effort required time, patience, and vulnerability—but it paid off with renewed engagement.

“When people feel heard,” Fowler writes, “they feel valued. And when they feel valued, their motivation changes from compliance to commitment.” In other words, leaders don’t cause motivation—they cultivate the conditions where it can grow. That’s how shift truly happens.

Even when leaders learn the science of motivation, they often sabotage themselves with old, unconscious beliefs. Fowler identifies five deeply rooted business clichés that erode motivation from the inside out. Replacing them with new, evidence-based beliefs can transform how organizations function and how people feel at work.

1. “It’s not personal; it’s just business.”

In truth, all business is personal. Work occupies most of your waking hours, and your emotions come with you. Pretending otherwise leads to cold, transactional cultures. Fowler encourages leaders to validate feelings rather than suppress them: acknowledge emotions without tolerating destructive behavior. Saying, “You shouldn’t feel that way” shuts people down; saying, “I understand you’re frustrated—let’s explore why,” opens space for authentic conversation. Emotional intelligence isn’t weakness—it’s the foundation of trust.

2. “The purpose of business is to make money.”

Money is the result, not the purpose. Fowler reframes this belief: the purpose of business is to serve. Drawing inspiration from Ken Blanchard’s philosophy (“Profit is the applause you get for taking care of your people”), she shows that focusing on service—both to customers and employees—actually drives long-term profitability. Service satisfies autonomy (choosing how to contribute), relatedness (serving others), and competence (doing meaningful work well). When business outcomes become by-products of serving a human purpose, motivation soars.

3. “Leaders are in a position of power.”

Power, as research by Drea Zigarmi shows, is a double-edged sword. Whether through reward, coercion, or expertise, perceived authority often undermines people’s autonomy and relatedness. Even the mere presence of power changes the dynamic. Admiral Theodore Blanchard once told his son Ken, “Now that you have power, don’t ever use it.” Fowler urges leaders to think differently: their role isn’t to wield power but to create environments where others experience power over their own motivation. Instead of commanding, they invite choice, share rationale behind decisions, and provide information transparently. This empowers without overpowering.

4. “The only thing that really matters is results.”

Results matter, but why and how they’re achieved matter more. When results become tyrannical, ethics and creativity suffer. Fowler points to organizations like Express Employment Professionals, who framed sales goals around their mission to put a million people to work. Employees achieved the same numerical goals but felt inspired instead of pressured. Likewise, reframing “deadlines” as “guidelines” acknowledges autonomy and relatedness. Success without well-being is hollow; meaningful results sustain both people and profits.

5. “If you can’t measure it, it doesn’t matter.”

Fowler challenges this fixation on metrics with a story from a cooking class in Tuscany. The chef refused to quantify ingredients—“You add water until it feels right.” The lesson: some of life’s most important qualities—love, integrity, joy—can’t be measured but matter profoundly. Leaders who only chase measurable outcomes undervalue innovation, relationships, and emotional climate—the very factors that sustain high performance. Her provocative reframe: If you can’t measure it, it’s probably really, really important.

When leaders revise these five eroding beliefs, they stop undermining autonomy, relatedness, and competence. They also embody the Optimal Motivation mindset—acknowledging that human flourishing and organizational success aren’t opposites but partners. In Fowler’s words: “When you focus on what you want for people, you’ll naturally get what you want from people.”

The ultimate promise of Fowler’s framework is not just happier employees but a fundamentally better way of leading and living. When leaders stop trying to motivate and start fostering autonomy, relatedness, and competence, everyone wins—individuals, organizations, and society as a whole.

What Leaders Want For—Not From—People

Fowler and collaborator David Facer begin leadership workshops with two questions: “What do you want from your people?” and “What do you want for your people?” The contrast is striking. Leaders easily list deliverables—results, loyalty, performance. But when asked what they want for their teams, they pause—then name things like happiness, peace, health, and pride. Fowler’s insight: focusing on what you want for people naturally produces what you want from them. When leaders prioritize well-being and meaning, results follow as the side effect.

Thriving Organizations: From Driving to Flourishing

Most organizational systems are built around “driving” behaviors—pressure, quotas, and incentives. They produce compliance, not commitment. Fowler argues it’s time to evolve to systems that support “thriving.” Thriving workplaces treat people as partners, not pigeons, teaching motivational skills and creating room for ARC fulfillment. The payoff is enormous: reduced burnout, greater creativity, and genuine passion for quality and service. When people experience optimal motivation, they don’t need to be driven—they drive progress themselves.

Stories that Illustrate the Promise

Fowler’s favorite example is from her coauthor Drea Zigarmi’s family. After a nail-biting high school volleyball match, instead of shouting praise, Drea asked his daughter Alexa, “How did you feel about your serve tonight?” In that quiet moment, he gave her autonomy (she defined the meaning), relatedness (he cared about her experience), and competence (she reflected on her growth). Her face lit up as she said, “I got into the flow—it was amazing.” A simple shift from approval to curiosity turned winning into learning. Fowler notes, “That is leadership in its purest form.”

A Ripple Effect of Flourishing

Every shift to optimal motivation creates ripple effects. One leader’s genuine interest can restore an employee’s pride. One conversation can redefine a team’s culture. In the long view, companies that embrace Optimal Motivation contribute to healthier societies—reducing stress, building trust, and valuing people as whole human beings. As Ken Blanchard writes in the afterword, “Servant leadership is impossible without optimal motivation. You can’t lead others to flourish if you’re not flourishing yourself.”

The promise, then, is both practical and poetic: by restoring humanity to work, we restore energy, creativity, and meaning to life. Motivation isn’t something you do to people—it’s something you awaken within them. That simple insight has the power to transform not just organizations, but the very way we live and lead.