Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices - Paperback

by Paul R. Lawrence (Author), Nitin Nohria (Author)

"Driven" ist ein ganz erstaunliches und provozierendes Buch. Zwei Professoren der Harvard Business School fassen hier die Gedanken der letzten 200 Jahre sowie die neuesten wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse zusammen, um eine ganz neue Theorie über das Wesen des Menschen aufzustellen. Sie veranlassen den Leser, vier voneinander getrennte und verschiedenen emotionale Triebe zu untersuchen, die sein Verhalten lenken und seine Entscheidungen beeinflussen - nämlich den Erwerbstrieb, den Bindungstrieb, den Lerntrieb und den Schutztrieb. Dabei konzentrieren die Professoren ihre Studien auf den wohl faszinierendsten Schauplatz menschlichen Verhaltens - den Arbeitsplatz. Durch die Kombination von Bio- und Sozialwissenschaften wird viel Aufschlussreiches und Interessantes über das menschliche Verhalten zu Tage gefördert. So, wie der technologische Fortschritt wesentlich für das 20 Jahrhundert war, so werden - nach Meinung der Autoren - die Fortschritte der Biowissenschaften ma geblich für das 21. Jahrhundert sein.

Front Jacket

What universal characteristics make us human? Are there biological drives that motivate us as human beings? Why do we choose to do what we do?
At last we have the answers to these and other timeless questions about human nature.
In this groundbreaking book, Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria, two Harvard-based researchers, take a multidisciplinary approach that bridges the gap between the latest findings from evolutionary biology and insights about human behavior derived from social science. Driven compellingly sets forth the authors' scientific theory for understanding human nature and behavior.
Lawrence and Nohria conclude that the way we act is a result of the conscious choices we make. These deliberate choices are fueled by the internal battle constantly raging among our four innate, subconscious, brain-based drives:
The drive to acquire objects and experiences that improve our status relative to others
The drive to bond with others in long-term relationships of mutual care and commitment
The drive to learn and make sense of the world and of ourselves
The drive to defend ourselves, our loved ones, our beliefs, and our resources from harm.
Driven offers a workable model to help make sense of the human experience-- at the dinner table, the card table and the conference table-- and reveals the common heritage of humans, no matter how diverse our cultural or social backgrounds.
The authors-- knowing that humans will always be contentious and never reach the idealized goal of total balance and agreement-- urge us to attend to the well-being of our souls. If we attempt to balance our four drives, we can find the way forward to the next stage of our evolution as human beings.

Back Jacket

Darwin with an MBA.. -- Terry Burnham, coauthor, Mean Genes

What Drives You?
The Drive to Acquire?
The Drive to Bond?
The Drive to Learn?
The Drive to Defend?
Learn what two Harvard researchers-- Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria-have discovered about what drives us to make the choices we make. Driven reveals the scientific foundation for an understanding of human nature and the mysteries of human behavior.

"Driven makes a daring leap across disciplinary boundaries to show how recent research in biology sheds light on human nature, and thus social behavior. Social scientists need to pay attention to important works like this." --Francis Fukuyama, author, The Great Disruption and The End of History and the Last Man

"This is a stimulating and provocative book in bringing together important ideas from different fields and, thereby, giving us a whole new slant on 'human nature.'" --Edgar H. Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus and senior lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Author Biography

Paul R. Lawrence is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Organizational Behavior Emeritus at Harvard Business School. His research, published in twenty-four books and numerous articles, has centered on the human aspects of management, organizational change, and organization design.

Nitin Nohria is Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration and chairman of the Organizational Behavior Unit at the Harvard Business School.
He is the author of more than seventy-five professional articles and the coauthor or editor of seven books, including the award-winning The Differentiated Network.