Recently was forwarded this video again.  The most surprising thing I find in it is that most miss one of the fundamental points that Daniel Pink is making.  While it is true that we’re not motivated by money to perform better (anyone who ever took the time to understand the people they work with saw that from a mile away), what’s also true is that lack of money, or worry about money, can be a big pull on performance.

Too often do I see companies haggling about $5,000 during salary negotiations.  $5,000 to a company, any company, is a much smaller difference maker than it is to an individual.  If you are bringing the person into your organization, you believe they are a difference maker and to haggle over salary is to set a sour tone, leaving the employee to forever then consider that they got the short end of the stick.

Daniel Pink argues that you have to take the money worry out of the equation.  It is very sexy right now to look at everything else he’s saying about what motivates us, but this single point is the basis of everything that he talks about.  That point cannot be overstated.