The more you dive into that subject, the more you start to realize that the difference between intrinsic and external motivators is hard to make. This is also being played out in the gamification arena, where we are witnessing the polarisation into two worldviews: - Reality is broken - McGonigal - Improve marketing - Zicherman I am personally more in favor of the first, but the fact remains that both icons / guru's are holding the space for a whole new world of insights on the nature and anatomy of what we label as 'motivation'. In this cross-over mutiple-discipline we can make connections to community development, capacity building, transactional analysis and positive psychology.

Yep - I buy that. Still a bit concerned about the fragility of handover of the steering wheel. Coming from a completely different world (organizational change on SAP implementations) I tend to design the communication approach so it can cater for ownership from day 1. But then again - like you - I find myself sometimes rewriting the whole piece; even for internal customers.

Hi Valeria, You make a valid point on the need for content delivery. However, I tend to disagree on the role of Marketing and Internal Communication. At best they are a broadcaster / a platform. Never in the driver's seat (because once you are in there - everyone will behave as a passenger). Putting them in charge of content creation will generate ... advertising. And we know how that story goes and we see how it misaligns on social media. On the other hand - I do like the conclusion of this article. "catalyst" in the true sense of the word may be the appropriate role, i.e.: facilitating the process of content creation (of operational people and formost: frontline staff) without taking part in it. The nice part of the word "catalyst" is that it emerges from chemistry - which is where we want to get ultimately. Best regards, Luc

Another great article with shocking evidence - the age of the group you were addressing is alarming! Two extra observations: 1. Regarding the age group: this confirms that middle management is an endangered species emprisoned by their own 'status-quo -command-and-control' paradigm; 2. I would like to challenge you to take the reasoning one step further. At present you are making an excellent case for running the campains on new media. Yet there is a danger that by using NEW media OLD style you quickly errode their potential. What I mean: old media cater for campaigns - limited in time and when they're over nothing sustainable has grown, not even a customer relationship. On the other hand: new media have the potential to be platforms for communities, i.e.: projects that aim at building sustainable customer relationships. The challenge at hand is to be the platform first, and have the community own and run the campaign. Running one-way-trafic communications on a two-way-platform using old metrics will not be successful. The change requires a transformation of middle management. Now don't get me wrong: you donan excellent job scaring the s*** out of these people and with the right arguments! I just want to prevent that they tell you "told you so" once they get there. You gave them some bad news, but my gut feeling tells me these people are in deeper trouble than that... It' s gonna get a lot worse for them before it get better.... Thanks again for an excellent article Adam! Luc PS: funny afterthought is that every single skill that is needed for these middle managers to thrive in this new model is gained by working LESS hours & by being home early enough to REALLY interact with their gaming kids and facebooking family and friends... Boy oh boy talking about a revolution!!

Another great wake-up call. The example of Amazon is a good one for it shows that one can only fully engage in a new endeavor when one has let go of every attachement to successes of the past. Amazon was a game-changer: they created a new game on a different level than the saturated paper-book market. At the time our first reflex was to lauch at such a ridiculous idea. And now? Ask any analyst and they will respond there is no bigger growth market than the e-books of Amazon. To quote Arthur Schopenhauer: "Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first it is ridiculed, in the second it is opposed, in the third it is regarded as self-evident." Every first mover has to stand the torture of being ridiculed and opposed. But when they persist they get to the essence of the first-mover advantage, i.e. you get to configure a whole new game level. Keep up the great articles Adam! Luc.