Much of conventional wisdom in business management is counterproductive. If you want to help people achieve their best, they have to be in the game for themselves. A key motivation principle is people do things for their reasons, not yours. Even if it means sucking up to you to get a paycheck. Forget phony praise, baloney feedback and useless criticism. Focus on the environment and use subtle tactics to influence self motivation. Helping people set their own objectives is when they buy in. Avoiding emotion and relying on facts and logic may be conventional wisdom but it most often leads to mediocre results. When people do things for their own reasons is when they do their best.