About 10 years ago my brother, Chip, ran a study on what motivates people. And I want to run the same study on you right now. So imagine that a company is offering $1,000 bonus for employees who hit certain performance targets. And there are three different ways that this bonus can be presented to those employees. Let's look at those. First positioning is this. Think of what that $1,000 means. A down payment on a new car, that home improvement you've wanted to make. Second is think of the increased security of having that $1,000 in your bank account for a rainy day. Finally, think of what the $1,000 means. The company recognizes how important you are to their overall performance. They don't spend money for nothing. Now which of these three positionings would be most effective for you? Well, most people in the study said #3. You know, it's good for our self-esteem to feel like we're important to the company's overall performance. But then there was a follow-up question. Which of these three positionings do you think would be best for other people? Well, people changed their tune a little bit with that question. They said, well, if we're talking about other people, they'd probably be motivated #1 by the first positioning, and then by the second, and last by the third. So in other words, we perceived ourselves to be motivated by a desire to be important to the company, and other people are motivated by a desire to make down payments on cars. Do you remember Maslow's hierarchy? It looks like this, this little pyramid shape. Basically what this study is saying is that most of us perceive ourselves to be up here in these upper levels, you know, Maslow's penthouse, if you will, and other people meanwhile are loitering down there in the lower levels of Maslow's basement. Now if we really believe that and if we think that to motivate other people we've got to start talking in terms of job security and down payments on cars, what we're really doing is robbing ourselves of a chance to appeal to higher levels of motivation. You know, the people who work for Oxfam in Africa, the people who designed the iPhone, the people who volunteered for Obama, these were not people who were motivated by a quest for job security. So all we've got to remember is if we want to motivate other people, we have to remember they view themselves as being in that penthouse right alongside us, and that should affect the way we communicate. If you want to learn more about communication that motivates, come visit us at FastCompany.com/heath.

1.In the video, Dan Heath discusses rewards that motivate employees. A $1,000 bonus from their employer made employees feel like the company recognized how important the employees were to the companys performance. Which other type of workplace reward would also meet Maslows esteem needs?

A. Volunteer opportunities

B. Promotions

C. Job Security

D. Department outings

2.In the study discussed in the video, Dan Heath says that employees assumed that their co-workers were in Maslows basement, or the hierarchical level that pertains to physiological or safety needs. If that was true, companies could offer _____ which would meet those lower-level needs.

A. Healthcare plans

B. Teamwork opportunities

C. Perks like vacation days

D. Challenging, creative jobs

3. Now consider another theory on motivation: equity theory. Suppose your employer awarded your co-worker a $1,000 bonus. You perceive that you work just as hard as your co-worker, but you werent awarded a bonus. Based on equity theory, all of the following are likely to occur to restore balance except ______.

A. You demand a raise

B. You start coming in late and leaving early

C. You look for reasons why your co-worker deserved the bonus

D. You start looking for another job