Freedom, Inc_ - Brian M. Carney [70]
—BLAISE PASCAL16
The seventeenth-century French philosopher Pascal used this metaphor to contrast the fragility of our organism with the force of our mind. But there is another piece of Pascal’s metaphor: the reed in its natural environment. Most reeds, of course, are not crushed by nature but get from it what they need to grow and develop to their programmed potential. If, on the other hand, a reed does not get from nature what it needs—water, light, minerals—it will not develop to its potential, and if its needs are severely denied by nature it may even perish.
This extension of Pascal’s metaphor reflects the view of human needs developed by the University of Rochester psychologists Edward Deci, Richard Ryan, and their associates for the last three decades in, perhaps, the most ambitious contemporary theoretical and empirical research on motivation.17 In the first half of the twentieth century, behaviorists and drive psychologists viewed man as naturally seeking peace (of body) and hence motivated to eliminate the tension of unsatisfied physical needs. To caricature, man is like a python who will move in search of prey, but his ideal is to lie under the sun immobile and simply digest the poor mouse. In 1943, Abraham Maslow extended this view to man’s seeking not only peace of body but also of mind and thus being motivated to eliminate the tension of unsatisfied psychological needs—belonging, esteem, and self-actualization—too. To caricature again, our python, after eating, would seek out the company of other pythons, where he is likely to hear, “Good job, great catch!” Then, having found this company and received his approbation, he’ll continue his quiet digestion under the sun. Unlike these earlier psychologists, Deci and Ryan—and our liberating leaders—view people not as aiming at peace of body and mind but programmed for mastery—of activities and areas of study, not people—and happiness (vitality and well-being).18
As child psychologists Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky have shown, we engage from a very early age in all kinds of play in order to master different aspects of our environment. We enjoy doing it to the point of ignoring hunger, fatigue, and the risk of being hurt—like those young football players outside the psychologist’s window.19 Similarly, as adults, we seek mastery and “fun” in many of our leisure activities. Given an appropriate corporate environment, we seek the same at work. But the appropriateness of the environment is not a minor point. As with Pascal’s reed, naturally seeking to develop its potential, the ongoing natural human activities aiming at mastery and happiness demand what Deci and Ryan call nutriments. The reed’s fundamental needs of light, minerals, and water have a counterpart in the human fundamental needs: “relatedness,” “competence,” and “autonomy.”20 If the nutriments are present, a person will reach mastery and well-being. But if they are lacking, she will not fully develop. For this reason, Deci and Ryan argue that these needs are as fundamental to human development as the reed’s light, minerals, and water. According to this account, other candidates for fundamental needs, such as power, which have been postulated by earlier motivation scholars, are ruled out: Their nonsatisfaction does not prevent human mastery and well-being. (It’s not because one lacks power over others that one cannot master a subject and become happy, as mountain climbers and other sportsmen prove.) And as with the reed, if one of the three nutriments is lacking, even if the other two are fully available, the person will still develop