Money

I remember reading about this in one of Malcolm Gladwell's books, so it's at least couple years old, but scientists and economists (as if economists aren't scientists) have discovered that, when it comes to tasks that require a degree of creativity or ingenuity, money is a bad motivator. The more money you pay a person to do something creative, they worse result you get back. The best thing is to pay that creative person just enough so that it gets money off the table, and the creative person doesn't even have to think about money, and then you can motivate him or her by allowing them to master their skills, follow new ideas, do their own thing. This is where Google's "20% time" came from. And damn if it ain't spot on. That is, not to say, I wouldn't like more money, but more time to do what I want and get paid for it. That is far better, I think.