Incentive is the SPARK that propels us toward greatness! From what I have found, everyone's a little bit different when it comes to incentivization. Some are motivated by their internal desires and wishes, while others are driven more by a desire for external rewards. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he cited what became known as the “10,000 hour rule.” That to achieve greatness, all it takes is spending 10,000 hours doing that which you aspire to become great at. 
 
Take the Beatles for example, they didn’t start out as a phenomenal success. In fact, they played over 10, 000 hours in dive bars in England and around Europe. Then, they came to America and were featured on the Ed Sullivan show—the rest is history. When you look at the Beatles’ body of work, it is second to none. There are many overnight sensations that hit their genius zone, but it’s normally a short-lived window. Why is it that the Beatles were so much more successful than the 99 percentiles? They undoubtedly had talent, but talent will only get you so far. What they had was an internal love of music and performing which was the driving force and their incentive. Of course, they became filthy rich and famous, but money wasn’t the driver. It was always their love of music that drove them. 
 
Of course, there are the salespeople who are like the famous Jerry Maguire line, “Show me the money!” That’s their incentive, external gain. They love the money, accolades and rewards that accompany goal achievement. That’s how they measure their success. So, how does a business best handle the incentivization of their staff? I can only really talk about what works for us at GlobalStar Consulting. First, we make knowing each team member and what’s important to them one of our highest priorities. Then we take a balanced approach to both internal and external incentive-based programs that will resonate both individually and with the broader team. We believe in the importance of incentivization, and therefore make it a top priority within our organization.