thinkers50 ranked thinker
DANIEL PINKRecognized expert on the science of motivation, the science of timing, and the business zeitgeist; writes and creates at the intersection of work, psychology, and society.
01. ranked thinker
Ranked #9 in 2021.
Previous positions: #6 (2019), #11 (2017), #10 (2015), #13 (2013), and #29 (2011).
02. SHORTLISTED
Thinkers50 2019 Talent Award.
Thinkers50 2013 Best Book Award.
02. FAST FACT
Author of the first American “manga” comic-style business book.
ideas
Pink’s provocative ideas draw on research in behavioural and social sciences. He examines the mismatch between what science knows, and what business does. His work on human motivation explains that the secret to high performance is not monetary reward, but the need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things. His theory on timing is not that it is an art, but a science, and we can use the hidden patterns of the day to build the ideal schedule. The “when”, he argues, is just as important as the “why” and the “what”, when we make decisions.

Nationality
American
BIO
Pink has hosted a National Geographic Television series about social science, studied the comic industry in Tokyo, and served from 1995 to 1997 as chief speechwriter for US Vice President Al Gore. He has been a contributing editor at Fast Company and Wired, as well as a business columnist for The Sunday Telegraph.
Content
When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (Riverhead, 2018); To Sell is Human (Riverhead, 2013); Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (Riverhead, 2011); The Adventures of Johnny Bunko (Riverhead, 2008); A Whole New Mind (Riverhead, 2006); Free Agent Nation (Grand Central Publishing, 2002).
website
danpink.com
@DanielPink
VERDICT
“Dan Pink is required reading. He captured the entrepreneurial zeitgeist with his first book Free Agent Nation and continues to chronicle the changing business landscape like no other.”
Stuart Crainer & Des Dearlove, Thinkers50.