Sublime

As Freud put it, “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.”

People have vastly different desires, except for three things: Respect, feeling useful, and control over their time. Those are nearly universal.

Theory X and Theory Y that Douglas McGregor developed in the 1960s when he was a professor at MIT. He stated that managers hold one of two sets of beliefs concerning employees: some think employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work whenever possible (Theory X); others think workers can be ambitious, self-motivated, and exercise self-control

“If an individual has ego needs that are too high,” notes Peter Friedes, Hewitt’s managing partner, “they can be a very disruptive influence.

The responsibility of the worker. When I know I can give a person a task and it will always get done, I may not check on that person until the task is complete.

In practice, I prefer Clayton Alderfer’s version of Maslow’s hierarchy, which he called “ERG theory”: people seek existence, relatedness, and growth, in that order.

FREDERICK HERZBERG