Alive at Work : The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do

Cable (London Business School) examines the neurological basis for motivating employees. He focuses on a "seeking system" in which people have the natural desire to explore, learn, and understand the meaning of existing environments and seek new environments. The seeking system is associated with the chemical dopamine within the brain, which helps neurons send signals to nerve cells that can lead to pleasure and ultimately motivation. Several themes supported by company examples from KLM, Dealogic, Standard Chartered Bank, SAS, and Microsoft are shown. One theme mentions that companies should be safe environments in which to be creative. Employees should not fear meeting with managers to discuss new ideas. Another suggests that this creativity could help employees experiment with possible solutions. A third supports having companies help employees learn how their work has directly impacted others. The book is easy-to-read, double-spaced, and sprinkled with a few diagrams. Creativity, experimentation, and teamwork appear to be similar to design thinking concepts shared in Tim Brown’s  Change by Design  (2009).