I was listening to a speaker yesterday describing the difference between public sector and private employees.
An interesting point was that the motivations are different; public sector staff are more motivated by a work/life balance while private sector workers are more motivated by money.
This started me thinking about recent blogs I’ve read by Valerie Khoo and Seth Godin regarding the motivation of Wall Street bankers and entreprenuers.
The question of money motivating people is vexed and I suspect overstated. As Seth says in his column, once you’ve an income over a million or so dollars money really isn’t that important; it’s all about status.
A point made by yesterday’s speaker was when he managed scientists he found most researches care about about peer approval. Money matters far less to them than appearing at conferences, presenting papers and being recognised for their hard work and discoveries.
In a strange way, that’s the real explanation for the financial industry’s massive salaries and bonus. The dollar amount is simply a yardstick to measure one’s status. The bigger the yacht, house and birthday party you can afford, the more recognition you have among your peers.
Which brings me to entreprenuers. Unlike Valerie, I don’t think business builders are interested soley in amassing banker like piles of cash. The cash is nice, but they are more interested in doing great things with their businesses or invention.
Cash is a useful measure and it’s nice to have some spare, but that’s as far as it goes. Far more important for most people is the recognition of their peers, security of their families and the satisfaction of a job well done.