Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Carrot Sticks

Maybe it was when I had turned 30. I heard this phrase used by someone, "You've only got so many carrots, and you've only got so many sticks." This phrasing confused me because all I could think of was how the concept made no sense. You've got carrots, and you've got carrot sticks. You seem to have both, so what's the problem again? Gifted with a disturbing level of naivete, it took me two years to understand what I had heard. Ah, I see. There are carrots (rewards) and there are sticks (punishment). But it still took a while. I don't know many people that think of carrots as the ultimate reward. I also don't know any people that beat others in their workplace with sticks as a form of punishment. Metaphors. I get it. I get it.

I work with a lot of incredibly smart people here at MIT. In the beginning, I used to think that if I told them to work harder -- or to at least keep pace with myself -- that they would naturally fall in line. This is how I was raised in a household where my self-employed parents worked 6 (often 7) days a week from 1AM to 6PM in the evening continuously. However I gradually realized that this approach bore no fruit. It is an approach that worked on me, so I naturally thought it would work on others. We often think that what works with ourselves can work with others. I'm human. I make mistakes.

Recently I am aware that there is no better method to manage people than with positive encouragement. It has to be sincere of course, and that's easy when you work with phenomenally talented people like I do everyday at MIT. I think it was last year that I realized that a truly gifted person knows deep down inside that they s*ck ... so at some point they really don't need their boss telling them how much they s*ck. It can truly become counterproductive, as I have learned from being on the receiving end of such a management technique many times in the past.

So in short, I believe that the simplest way to manage great people is to not choose between the carrot or sticks, but to just give them carrot sticks. They're healthy, they're nourishing, they're natural, and they don't leave a mess. And give yourself a carrot stick too. You deserve it for sure!