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Berger: Fear-driven motivation is dysfunctional for modern knowledge work

Kenneth Berger · Why not asking for what you want is holding you back | Kenneth Berger (exec coach, first PM @Slack) · May 19, 2024 · at 1:03:17

Kenneth Berger, executive coach and Slack's first PM, discusses why tech founders and leaders should unlearn fear-based motivation.

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“Fear is for when there's a tiger chasing you and there's no tiger chasing me. I'm sitting in my office in a desk chair on a zoom call, right? Like there's no real danger here. And so fear is not particularly functional.”

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