Monday 31 December 2018

Fire in the Belly - A quest for intrinsically motivated people

Readers and Collaborators ,

Over the last 3-4 years I have tried to research on why some people have fire in the belly so to speak and some don't . I am talking about this from the organisational work perspective.

How do we identify people who are intrinsically motivated . People who wish to achieve something in life , more than just normal existential living and working , people who are driven by passion for very high quality of work or strong sense of on time performance or thirst for knowledge or innovation.

As I traveled and worked with various clients , I have gathered stories , stories of phenomenal achievements be it personal or professional . I have tried also to deduce and try to find out what are the common elements in these stories . Is there a common thread which gives us an inkling in the thought processes of Indian Executives / Managers / Workers which makes them have and demonstrate "Fire in the Belly".

As I walk on this journey of exploration , I am also coming across other dilemmas like loyalty vs competence , strong spirited high achievers vs moderate performing "nice" colleagues. In my discussions with various CEO's a few other questions have also come up like performance vs trust etc.

I will be attempting to share these stories and my interpretations in this blog series to try and unravel for myself and all those who are interested in this topic the reasons , genesis , contributors , dissuasion's  for "Fire in the Belly".

I tried to experiment also in the last 4 to 5 years by looking to hire a variety of individuals in my organisation , testing my theories ( some spectacularly successful and others miserable failures). I will try and share my learning from that as well 

Please contribute if you have any stories to tell or opinions , your own experiences , insights on this topic .