Seth Godin: Three ways to help people get things done

The title is a bit misleading. It's actually two ways to make people get things done (which aren't very profound) and one way to help a small minority become excellent (somewhat interesting).

How about, "Provide a cooperative environment and a few people may excel."

To address his points directly, if we scope the discussion down to managing knowledge workers:

1. I agree that yelling or harassing is almost never beneficial in the long run.

2. Competition in a group is always present as long as you are doling out the biggest bonuses and raises to the "best" employees. What Seth doesn't consider is that competition against an outside foe, be it another company or industry, can help motivate. X PRIZEs are a great example of this.

3. I agree on his third point, though it gets a little hand-wavy here. I suppose we're expected to buy one of Seth's books to get more details.