This query is interesting for the meanings imputed to “Leadership” and “Motivation”. If we view Leadership as having the following attributes: Out in front Public face Agenda setting Target demanding Driving Hard The do-as-I-say Boss The Decision maker Then under this sort of Leader, people have these experiences: demand for performance involves a threat – perform or else avoid identifying weaknesses a lack of self-directed work the vision from the top is obscured no-one cares how you feel about the work do not feel personally involved your opinion doesn’t count focus on satisfying the Leader do as little as possible commensurate with meeting targets no discretionary effort Such a work regime is familiar to many of us. It motivates us to do the job and not make a fuss. We are motivated to put as little effort into the work as is needed to satisfy the targets. We achieve our feeling of self-worth by how many get-out clauses we can build into the performance measures. We can beat the system!