motivation

​As the new year approaches, many plan to make self-improvement resolutions. New research led by Hengchen Dai, PhD, assistant professor at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, shows extra motivation is all in the timing, and desire to get away from one’s past, imperfect self.

“World of Warcraft” might not seem like typical research material. But Yulia Nevskaya, PhD, assistant professor of marketing at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis found it the perfect research platform. She has helped lead a study of gamers’ behavior and what’s behind their motivation.

Whether it’s for money, marbles or chalk, the brains of reward-driven people keep their game faces on, helping them win at every step of the way, even when there is no reward at stake, suggests a surprising Washington University in St. Louis brain scan study published online today by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

There is an appropriate time and place for employers to monitor employees, according to a business professor at the Olin Business School. If done wrong, firms can lose their worker’s trust and willingness to go above and beyond.

Photo by Chris MitchellAbove is a selection of letters football coach Larry Kindbom has collected for his student-athletes since 1998 and self-published in his “Playbook of Champions.”Instead of getting his team fired up with movies or fire and brimstone, Larry Kindbom, football coach at Washington University in St. Louis, solicits motivational letters from successful people in all walks of life. He has received responses from people such as former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, Vice President Al Gore, Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher, sportscaster Bob Costas and a host of other notables. This year, Kindbom’s taken the responses and self-published a book, “Playbook of Champions,” for his student-athletes. More…