Author: adriandobre

Influence, Pizza, and an Expensive Taxi Ride

I read Influence by Robert Cialdini. Something unexpected happens and I have to take a taxi that costs a lot. I arrive late and think that I can buy a pizza instead of cooking dinner – the pizza seems less expensive than the taxi today. I remember the chapter about the merchant that sells an expensive suit first, then the shirt, so that it seems less expensive compared to the price of the suit. I give up on buying the pizza and cook dinner.

Arrogance

arrogant (ˈærəɡənt)

— adj

having or showing an exaggerated opinion of one’s own importance, merit, ability, etc; conceited; overbearingly proud: an arrogant teacher ; an arrogant assumption – Source

Also assuming that doing the job provides it all: knowledge, experience etc., without having to read, learn and stay up to date with technology, ideas and trends. Comparing humans with wine bottles, the more you leave them ‘untouched’, the better they get.

A Mother’s Interview

My friend’s grandmother wore a niqab and so it was hard for men to know whether she was married or not. She used to to walk along the streets of Rabat not displaying any obvious sign of interest for the curious men. Only one man observed that the hood of her garment was carefully folded inside out. It cought his interest and, as he returned home, the man confessed to his mother.

Because of the clothing covering her entire body, leaving uncovered just her eyes, the man wasn’t sure whether she was married or not, so it rested on the shoulders of his mother to continue the investigation. She started following the girl as a modern day private investigator. She would follow her to the hamam to spy on her beauty, and she would ask her various incognito favors, to find out how helpful she was. At one point, she ‘accidentally’ spilled a bit of clean water on her clothes, to check on her reactions – would she respond with kindness?

When all information was collected, the boy’s mother went to see the mother of the girl, and introduce herself and her son.

This story reminded me of a friend that had applied for a prestigious diplomacy programme in the UK. She had sent her application and, as the deadline of an official response came, she received a call from the university. Someone made a mistake and lost one of the papers she had sent. The application was now incomplete because of this mistake, nevertheless she would have to apply again. Although usually outspoken, M remained calm and asked for details. She was obviously upset, but she handled it elegantly. After a few minutes into the conversation, the voice that brought the bad news told her thanks, she just had her last interview, and she passed.

Why Reading Drive Was Interesting, But I Regret Buying It

This text wants to be a book review. Let’s see how it ends.

I started reading drive after all the hype around it, after being referenced in prof. Werbach’s Gamification course, and after passing my filter of “be careful when the 1 star ratings are more than 10% of the 5 star ratings” on Amazon.

Drive introduced new concepts like Deci’s Self-determination Theory and structured my scattered knowledge of when intrinsic motivators work in favor of extrinsic motivators, and when the opposite applies. It talks about autonomy, purpose and mastery as being the three pillars of intrinsic motivation, and comes with a toolkit & reading list.

Knowledge related, I enjoyed reading the book. Even more, I enjoyed following up on the scientific research referenced. Just today I searched some using Google Scholar.

So it’s not the content inside, but the wrapping that put me off. 75% from the beginning you reach Drive: The Recap – which is just that, a recap. Proposed wisely in three forms: Twitter Summary, Cocktail Party Summary and Chapter-by-Chapter Summary. So actual information is about 3/4 of our book.

The second thing that I disliked – and it’s the second time it happened –  highlighting limit. Information highlighted for reference has been lost forever behind the “you reached the limit of your highlights” message.

In short: Drive has lots of interesting concepts that otherwise would be found just in professional books or white-papers. Drive is also a marketing case-study for selling a book. Just that it has way to much redundant information. Way too much. Better buy Ryan & Deci’s white-papers and books (if they would be made available in ebook format).