What really 'drives' us ?

In Daniel Pink's opinion if your work is anything else but a mechanical task, the carrot and stick approach would surprisingly result in diminishing performance rather than improving it. He says that the real motivators for creative, highly skilled individuals are:

• Autonomy (ex. Atlasssian example of a day off to work on something of choice)
• Mastery (e.g. getting better at stuff, reaching a sense of inner reward)
• Purpose (e.g. meaningful challenge, something bigger than ourselves) 

Source: Drive - the surprising truth about what motivates us, Daniel Pink 

Thinking of it, this is in line with both:

• Maslow's theory on our pyramid of needs and also with 
• modern leadership approaches (e.g. based on providing Hope / Vision, Compassion and Mindfulness / Inspiration / Trust / Value)