My 3rd TED talk in counting

Today I saw Dan Pink for the first time EVER!  I think he is a good speaker but if I had to choose between the two, I would say he is a much better writer than a speaker.  I always pictured him to be older, but I guess with his writing style and what he is saying in his writing, I should have expected him to be  younger.  Lots of his presentation today had to do with a simple puzzle, shown below.

Like most people who look at this puzzle, I didn't understand it immediately.  It took me a few minutes to figure it out and the result makes you want to smack your forehead.   The puzzle says to put the candle on the wall so no wax can drip on the table using only a candle, tacks, and matches.  The solution involves those three, but adds an element most do no think of... the tack box!  A picture of the solution is shown below.

Most people look at the solution and think how unfair the solution is, or at least, that's what I thought.  The problem is about using your creativity and what is around you to solve something seemingly unimportant.  Dan Pink's point throughout his speech was not how well you could solve the puzzle or even if you could solve the puzzle, his point was what drives us to solve this puzzle.  A long time ago, there was an experiment held to see what actually drives the human being.  Mr. Pink gives the analogy of a horse with either carrots or a stick being the driving force.  The results were revolutionary and went against what humans think they know.  Motivators such as the carrot or the stick had a negative impact on our creativity!


Throughout his speech, Dan Pink spoke with confidence and through his use of somewhat bitter humor and hard-headed evidence, he was inspirational.  I need to remember the use of these TED talk techniques in my own speech.  Mr. Pink also used the back screen to project images that went along with his speech which is a technique I will be using.


This video mattered to me because it honestly gave me a new view on what rewards do to people and if this will someday change the future.  If people are willing to work harder and are more proficient without pay there would be a changed world.  People all around the world need to see this and try experiments on their own to see the effectiveness of what Dan Pink has to say.  After I read A Whole New Mind I might try to read Drive,  because it sounds very interesting.