# Inspiration and Authority By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-10-11 Different things inspire people. People are different. What motivates one person might not only not motivate another, but it might also actually demotivate that person. This is why getting to know people personally is so important. Even still, the number of things businesses typically bring to the table is limited. There is time off, bonuses, raises, formal recognition, informal recognition, praise, and gratitude. The utility of these eventually diminishes. What is the source of inspiration for a self-actualized employee? Can a self-actualized employee be incentivized? It is more challenging. Likely, a self-actualized employee is motivated by autonomy and respect. These are difficult for an organization to provide, even though both are free because they strike at the core of the established hierarchy. When workers receive autonomy and respect, it becomes clear that they can work without much direction. This is a threat to organizational power. All the other forms of motivation reinforce the established hierarchy. To bestow a gift received is to establish the authority to do so. One might argue that the act of bestowing the recognition is done primarily to establish who is in charge. The organization will give a bonus when a person does something heroic, noteworthy, and consequential. This is done not to recognize the person’s accomplishment but to publicly reassert that no matter how great that person’s accomplishment was, those in charge are the only ones who can formally recognize it, and that is where power resides. The gift is the pretense; the ceremony is the focus. To work is to be subjugated to a regime of power. Self-actualized workers are a threat to organizational power. They know this, so they only give recognition that reestablishes their authority. #### Related Items [[Inspiring]] [[Authority]] [[Self-Actualization]] [[Work]] [[Power]] [[Hierarchy]] [[Motivation]]