The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Why DRiVE Still Matters in Leadership

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

This short bridge episode, Why DRiVE Still Matters in Leadership, revisits key leadership lessons from Drive by Daniel Pink. The focus is on why autonomy, mastery, and purpose continue to shape motivation, engagement, and performance in modern organizations, especially in complex and remote environments. This episode also connects recent reflections with an upcoming conversation with Jennifer Prevette, Founder and Owner of The Burg Box.Episode Highlights:Autonomy without trust leads to isolationMastery stalls when growth paths are unclearPurpose fades when communication declinesRemote work amplifies existing leadership gapsMotivation often declines before performance does

As we move deeper into January, this is a short bridge episode, not a full lesson, not an interview, just a moment to connect a few recent threads. On the first of this year, I did the podcast about five books that are going to help shape 2026 that have shaped me that I think can help shape you all. Last week, I re-shared an interview about product management because it's still relevant, even though it's from 2023, some great conversations, great tools there. And next week, I'm going to share a conversation that I just had yesterday and recorded and I'm editing with Jennifer Prevet of the Berg box.

It'll be released. It builds on many of those ideas we've talked about before. And today, though, I want to focus on alignment. And why is because I just revisited the book Drive by Daniel Pink. Not because it's new, but because its core ideas remain relevant in modern leadership environments. And this book's from 2009. When leaders can revisit that book, Drive, I think.

There are five themes that tend to surface again and again. They did for me. Maybe they will for you, especially in complex organizations. organizations. The first one is autonomy. Right, autonomy without trust, isn't really autonomy. On paper, autonomy looks like flexibility and freedom and in practice, when there's not trust there, it turns into like isolation. And Pink talks about this in the book, how teams operate independently, but if they're not aligned, or the leadership's lacking, the dynamic doesn't really empower people. It drains them. The second thing he talks about in the book is mastery. And mastery,

And mastery breaks down when growth paths are unclear, right? And often we see that people don't really burn out because the work's hard. They burn out because they're sustained effort and they see it's not leading anywhere. Right. Development conversations disappear, growth shifts into maintenance. And that's not good for people who maybe aspire for more. The third is purpose and purpose erodes when communication fades, right? Purpose isn't a slogan.

we have, you know, those motivation posters you see and things like that. What helps is regular clarity of where's the organization going? What's this team doing? What do we expect of you? Why the work still matters. And when you don't communicate as often or as quickly or as clearly, probably most importantly, the purpose may not just totally go away, but it'll start to erode, start to vanish. Kind of like in that movie Back to the Future when Michael J. Fox's character hasn't completed, you know,

his mission to fix the time and he starts to disappear from the picture. The fourth is the impact, right? Especially in remote work. And in 2009, when Pink wrote this book, it wasn't quite as relevant. There was still some remote work, but not like now in 2026 and really since, you know, 2019, 2020. And it can be highly effective, right? When we're intentional and engaged as leaders, but when there's a big gap in communication, that distance can amplify them.

But if there's regular communication and we're keeping in touch with folks, whether it's and a message or calls or get-togethers when you're in the same place, it can really keep those gaps small or non-existent. And often, some people think that they're out of mind because they're not communicated with regularly. Fifth thing is motivation. So motivation usually declines before people's performance does, unless there's an immediate, you know, issue or problem.

But often their motivation is going away and then their performance starts to drop off, right? And so it happens quietly, usually. and by the time the performance problems show up, that motivation is gone. So that leads us back to kind of staying connected with folks and making sure they're connected to purpose. And do they have mastery of what they do? And do they have the autonomy to work? But also, no, they're not by themselves. These were great points that stood out to me as I reread parts of Drive when I was sitting in my son's basketball game the other night.

And they're not complaints. They're not critiques. There were good reminders for me because at first, honestly, when I read through Drive, I kind of had a good grasp of these, but it's a good timing to remind myself about these important things of autonomy but not putting people on an island and mastery and helping folks get to where they need to go and making sure they know the purpose and not some grandiose statement, but like why are we doing this one thing or this whole group of things, the impact that they can have, whether they're in person or somewhere else. And then the motivation, keeping people motivated, helping them develop the discipline and the work and be excited about what they do. So I think revisiting foundational leadership concepts is part of staying grounded, right, especially as work becomes more distributed, more complex, more demanding. I'm really looking forward to releasing next week's conversation with Jennifer Prevette,

where we explore leadership and growth, navigating change, right, and all the challenges that come with starting your own business. It's going to be really fun. You really enjoy it. It will be both audio and video. So just remember, sometimes progress isn't about doing more. It's about returning to the first principles. More to come in the future.

Thank you all for listening to the People Process Progress podcast and for going to the People Processprogress.com website. I am Penel, P.A. and NELL.KG on Instagram and X. Go to the YouTube channel, Pupil Process Progress, get some workout ideas, cold plunge, and jiu-jitsu, some interview videos. Jennifer's will be on there. Adams there from Blue Gorilla BTJ.

And thank you so much for helping us cross 900,000 views over 85,000 listens here. I really appreciate your time. I hope this message gets out there. Let me know. There's a contact form of the website. Take care, everybody. Keep those people aligned, people first, processes aligned.

We'll all make progress together. Godspeed, y'all.