Ask HN: Would you leave your company for a raise of 20%?

“In 1968, the year Intel opened shop, a psychology professor at the University of Maryland cast a theory that surely influenced Andy Grove. First, said Edwin Locke, “hard goals” drive performance more effectively than easy goals. Second, specific hard goals “produce a higher level of output” than vaguely worded ones.

In the intervening half century, more than a thousand studies have confirmed Locke’s discovery as “ one of the most tested, and proven, ideas in the whole of management theory.” Among experiments in the field, 90 percent confirm that productivity is enhanced by well-defined, challenging goals.

Year after year, Gallup surveys attest to a “worldwide employee engagement crisis.” Less than a third of U.S. workers are “ involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace.” Of those disengaged millions, more than half would leave their company for a raise of 20 percent or less. In the technology sector, two out of three employees think they could find a better job inside of two months.”

Excerpt From: Doerr, John. “Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs.” Apple Books.