Employee creativity cannot be bought: It needs to be fostered

It depends on self-motivation much more than incentive structures

- GAUTAM MUKUNDA

From return-to-office sabre-rattling to hectoring memos declaring the end of rewarding employee loyalty, it's clear that chief executive officers (CEOs) are feeling their oats. A slowing US economy is shifting power back to the corner office after years of tight labour markets gave workers extraordinary pull. And leaders aren't hesitating to put that juice to use. They're swearing off warm and fuzzy cultures and instead channelling one of Don Draper's most memorable Mad Men lines: "That's what the money is for."

Wanting to reassert this kind of top-down control over their organizations may be a natural instinct, but it's also a profoundly counterproductive one. Management that relies primarily on fear as a stick—and financial incentives as a carrot—stifles creativity and innovation.