About motivation and purpose

I was saying just below that purpose is an important part of what motivates people, and an important part of what they want in life. it turns out this is becoming steadily more important.
Dan Pink argues in his recent book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us that the old motivation model of carrots and sticks, i.e. extrinsic rewards, works for traditional, routine tasks. But recent research shows simple if-then rewards are actually counterproductive for anything which requires a degree of creativity or judgement. That covers just about any job in the economy which can't be automated or outsourced to south Asia.
Instead, intrinsic motivation is much more important to getting the best out of people, or maximizing corporate performance. Engagement is needed, rather than just compliance. And to get at kind of engagement you need three things - autonomy in the job, mastery of a set of skills, and a sense of purpose. You have to see the larger reasons for what you are doing.
Seen in this light, purpose isn't just something which is a luxury or nice to have. It's fundamental to creative tasks, and most jobs in the new economy. It's one of the basics of adding value.