Great leaders motivate people. How? If the people you are trying to motivate are knowledge workers, then the traditional carrot & stick approach isn’t going to be very effective. The research shows that the three big motivators are: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Daniel Pink lays out the science in this entertaining video.

Scrum supports autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Autonomy: The team is self organizing, deciding for themselves the best way to get the work done. Mastery: Working iteratively enables continuous improvement. Purpose: meaningful product goals and sprint goals make the work meaningful.