It’s good to be reminded again of the psychology courses i took back in Magdeburg: In this TED talk Dan Pink talks about motivation for tasks that particularly involve thinking and problem solving. He cites several scientific studies in psychology that show how creative tasks are sometimes even impeded by extrinsic motivators such as rewards and penalties. He makes a good case for running businesses on the basis of intrinsic motivators autonomy, mastery, and purpose:

Autonomy, the urge to direct our own lives. Mastery, the desire to get better and better at something that matters. Purpose, the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. These are the building blocks of an entirely new operating system for our businesses.

Sounds pretty exciting, if not revolutionary! However, Dan’s distinction between creative and mechanical tasks may sound a bit classist. He is focussing on a new operating system for the knowledge workers troubled by facebook and procrastination. The rest of the workforce, it seems, is still well-served with sticks and carrots:

That routine, rule-based, left brain work, certain kinds of accounting, certain kinds of financial analysis, certain kinds of computer programing, has become fairly easy to outsource, fairly easy to automate. Software can do it faster. Low-cost providers around the world can do it cheaper. So what really matters are the more right-brained creative, conceptual kinds of abilities.

I am not so sure if this is what really matters. Doesn’t everybody deserve autonomy, mastery and purpose? I wonder if balanced job complexes would be more suitable for this goal by having workers do both creative and mechanical tasks, using both sides of the brain, and having a diverse set of motivators for different types of tasks.

via swissmiss

I was just talking with a newly met friend in Boston about ‘community’ and how it doesn’t translate well to German. It almost seems as if in progressive circles in North America community is the best: think community bikeshops, community gardens, and online communities.

However, the next best German translation, Gemeinschaft, doesn’t seem to carry over the enthusiasm for new forms of collective engagements. Could it be that many German speakers are wary of collective structures due to Germany’s history which certainly has contributed to a dark perspective on collectivity. The racist people’s community (Volksgemeinschaft) of the Nazis and the authoritarian collectives in the GDR have made us justifiably suspicious and critical of community reminding us of violence and oppression based on race and ideology.

While the United States have historically put a very strong focus on individuality, there seems to be a surge of community-based activism and civic engagement. Could it be that the individual approach to happiness has also led to isolation and alienation? We need to build open and emancipatory communities that support individuality and collectivity as compliments to each other. Right after the conversation with the aforementioned friend i stumbled upon a fitting quote in the weekly dig (magazine in the Boston area):

The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather youselves! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
- The Elders Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation

Towards the end of my high school time i had a pin on which “Get Radical!” stood. I think i got it at some thrift store in South Dakota. I liked this pin a lot, because it was political and aesthetic - attributes that are typically not used to describe the same thing. While i saw the green lettering on beige background as a charming plea to consider the root of the mess we’re in, some of my peers read it as incitement to crude and dull activism. Recently i discovered that an abbreviation of radical, namely rad, now seems to be the hip way of saying that something is cool and awesome (at least among certain English speaking North Americans). As i am temporarily residing in Cambridge/Boston, a localized version of that may be “wicked rad” - however, i am not sure if native/local speakers would agree…