"You get what you reward. Be clear about what you want to get and systematically reward it"
About this Quote
Management isn’t mysterious; it’s operant conditioning with better stationery. Bob Nelson’s line cuts through the foggy corporate habit of praising “values” while paying for outcomes that quietly contradict them. The intent is bluntly practical: if you want a behavior to spread, don’t just announce it in a town hall, attach consistent reinforcement to it. Culture, in this framing, isn’t a vibe; it’s a ledger.
The subtext is more accusatory than it first appears. “You get what you reward” implies that most workplace dysfunction is self-inflicted, not a talent problem. If an organization claims to want collaboration but only promotes lone wolves who hoard credit, it’s not being hypocritical by accident; it’s designing incentives that select for the very behavior it publicly condemns. Nelson is also warning against the seductive laziness of vague praise. “Be clear” isn’t motivational poster language; it’s a demand for specificity: what, exactly, counts as the desired action, and how will people know it was seen?
“Systematically reward it” adds the real sting. Rewards can’t be episodic, discretionary, or based on who’s most visible to leadership; that breeds cynicism and performance theater. Systematic means repeatable, legible, and fair enough that people stop guessing the hidden rules. In the current context of KPI-driven work and burnout politics, the quote reads like a corrective: stop romanticizing culture and start auditing what you actually pay attention to, promote, and excuse.
The subtext is more accusatory than it first appears. “You get what you reward” implies that most workplace dysfunction is self-inflicted, not a talent problem. If an organization claims to want collaboration but only promotes lone wolves who hoard credit, it’s not being hypocritical by accident; it’s designing incentives that select for the very behavior it publicly condemns. Nelson is also warning against the seductive laziness of vague praise. “Be clear” isn’t motivational poster language; it’s a demand for specificity: what, exactly, counts as the desired action, and how will people know it was seen?
“Systematically reward it” adds the real sting. Rewards can’t be episodic, discretionary, or based on who’s most visible to leadership; that breeds cynicism and performance theater. Systematic means repeatable, legible, and fair enough that people stop guessing the hidden rules. In the current context of KPI-driven work and burnout politics, the quote reads like a corrective: stop romanticizing culture and start auditing what you actually pay attention to, promote, and excuse.
Quote Details
| Topic | Management |
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