Daniel Pink

Solve the customer's problem.

And lo and behold, Zappos comes out of nowhere to be one of the top-rated customer service firms in America.

So here's a job that isn't being a graphic designer or a software writer, where if you offer up some amount of autonomy, people perform at a higher level, and the company benefits.

To some extent, and what you're describing is in some ways the landscape of American work right now.

I mean, job satisfaction numbers have been plummeting.

It's a combination that people are

nervous and uninspired, very dangerous combination.

You have levels of workforce engagement dropping, it seems, more each year.

There are some things that individuals can do to take it back a little bit.

And one of my favorites is this idea of a do-it-yourself performance review.

Now, most people hate performance reviews, whether they're giving them or receiving them.

And we've sort of lost sight of what the purpose is of a performance review.

The purpose of a performance review is to help people get better.

to help them move toward mastery.

But doing that twice a year in this kabuki theater-style settings where everyone's playing a rehearsed role isn't particularly effective.

So one thing people can do that I encourage people to do is a do-it-yourself performance review, where at the beginning of a month you set out your goals, and at the end of the month you call yourself into the office and ask yourself how you're faring.

Are you making progress?

Are you falling behind?

Do you need other information?

Some people are doing these kind of peer-to-peer performance reviews where I set out my goals and what I want to accomplish in the month.