#5: Lindsay McGregor: Primed to Perform

Lindsay McGregor is the co-founder of Vega Factor and co-author of bestselling book, Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation.  Previously, Lindsay led projects at McKinsey & Company, working with large fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, universities and school systems.  In this episode she shares the concept of Total Motivation, or ToMo—a simple theory based on the idea that why people work determines how well they work. She'll walk us through the six reasons why people work—three leading to higher performance and three leading to lower performance—and how to measure and manage them all. What is so powerful about her approach is that ultimately it enables you to take something that is often considered "soft" and "squishy"—culture—and turn it into something tangible you can actually measure, track, and manage. __________________________________________________________________________________________"Your reason for working will change what you do. And there's a spectrum of reasons why people do anything...it can range because you're working because you love the work itself. -Lindsay McGregor__________________________________________________________________________________________Episode Timeline:00:00—Introducing Rita McGrath + The topic of today’s episode1:27—If you really know me, you know that...2:01—What would you say you're known for?4:04—What is your definition of strategy?5:36—What got you interested in strategy?7:00—The Total Motivation (Tomo) Model9:34—Indirect negative motives11:55—Thinking of Tomo as an NPS measurement13:21—An example of implementing Tomo in an organization16:36—The Cobra Effect18:55—How to start influencing culture in your company20:27—Where to connect with Lindsay__________________________________________________________________________________________Book: https://www.vegafactor.com/bookTotal Motivation Survey: https://app.vegafactor.com/take_the_surveyThank you to our executive producer Zach Ness, our producer Nazanin Homayoun Jam and our editor James Pearce. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast