219. Six Motivations, One Workplace: Who Are You at Work?

Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

Think Fast Talk Smart

Communicating, Influence, Career Skills, Career, Business, Education, Leadership, Careers, Communication, Career Growth, Public Speaking, Language Learning, Improv

4.7 • 711 Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When communicating with their employees, most firms have no idea who they’re talking to.

Good communication is about knowing your audience. But if your organization is only focused on knowing your customers, James Root says you're forgetting a whole other cohort: your employees.

Root is a senior partner at Bain & Company, Chair of Bain Futures, and author of The Archetype Effect, in which he reveals a simple but overlooked truth: people want different things from their jobs. Despite this, most companies’ approach to employee motivation and reward is one-size-fits-all. “Every aspect of the standard organization model is built around this idea of the average worker,” he says. The problem? No average worker exists. “What people want from work is highly varied,” he says, and while many organizations spend millions to learn what drives their customers, “The mystery is why haven't we applied that same thinking to our workers?"

In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Root and host Matt Abrahams explore how firms can transform organizational success by understanding their internal audience. Whether you're trying to attract new talent or encourage better performance from the team you already have, Root's research shows why it’s about knowing your audience — recognizing that different people are motivated by fundamentally different things at work.

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Chapters:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:21) - The Evolving Nature of Work
(05:21) - Leading Multigenerational Teams
(08:50) - The Six Archetypes Explained
(13:55) - The Archetypes Evolution
(19:33) - The Final Three Question
(22:51) - Conclusion

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Matt here. As September approaches, many of us are heading back to school in work. To help get you back in the groove and hone your communication skills, check out daily Back to Basic videos. We'll be publishing each day in August. We have identified a weekly communication topic and will share a short, helpful video each day at 7 a.m. Pacific on our YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok channels.
0:23.2	Please check out these practical, helpful videos, and be sure to follow us to get your daily
0:27.9	dose of Think Fast Talk Smart. You can see a complete calendar at FasterSmartter.i.o slash basics.
0:42.8	When it comes to work and our relationships to work and with our work,
0:48.8	we often fail to focus on our personal motivations. My name is Matt Abrahams, and I teach strategic communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Welcome to Think Fast, Talk Smart, the podcast.
0:57.1	We spend about a third of our waking hours working, but so many people feel stuck in their
1:03.0	jobs they've outgrown. I've heard it all. What if the next move is even worse? I can't
1:07.8	afford to take the wrong step. Who am I without the title I have? These feelings
1:13.0	are real. But they're also why so many people feel stuck. That's where today's sponsor,
1:18.3	Strawberry.me, comes in. They connect you with a certified career coach who helps you go from where you
1:23.7	are to where you actually want to be. It's like therapy for your career. A coach
1:29.1	helps you cut through the noise, define your next move, and turn vague goals into a real-world
1:34.4	plan with accountability that keeps you moving forward. Own your future with a coach in your
1:40.2	corner. Go to strawberry.combe slash smart to claim your $50 credit and get started. That's
1:47.3	strawberry.m.m.m. slash smart. Stop settling. Start building the career you actually want.
1:56.4	Today I'm very excited to speak with James Root. James is a senior partner at Bain & Company
2:01.7	and chair of Bain Futures. James is a fellow at Hughes Hall College, Cambridge, and an adjunct
2:07.2	professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His latest book is The Archetype
2:12.9	Effect. Welcome, James. I am really excited for our conversation. Delighted to be here. Thank you, Matt.
2:19.5	Thank you. Shall we get started? Yeah, let's do it. Excellent. Among the many things that you study,
2:25.2	you spend a lot of time thinking about the future of work. What insights can you share about what work
2:30.5	looks like in the future? Yes, that's the question on everybody's minds.
	...

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