I love this post. I even wrote a little mini-response to it on my own blog.

I liked it mostly because it made me think really hard about what motivated me, and I concluded that it's not programming, which is what I do for a living. I really enjoy being a business domain-expert and architect.

It really helped me realize why I've never been as happy at my current gig as I was in the past. And it made me realize a big part of why entrepreneurship is so appealing to me.

Wow - what a moment of clarity. Thank you for writing this, Carleen Hawn!

"Carleen Hawn" must be an error. That dude in the picture is no Carleen Hawn. (Actually, it's Chris Lyman, who's written some good posts before. Scroll to bottom.)

Thanks for the comment. I wouldn't have read the article based on the title alone, and I'm glad I did.

Wow. Great post. Although the concept itself isn't too novel it's presented very well and makes this a very quick read.

The anecdote is interesting as well and helps prove the point.

Instead of asking what motivates, which makes the interview awkward, why not just assume the candidate wants all three and just show them how he/she can obtain them?

Does anyone else hate questions about motivation, or is it just me? It feels too personal for a first time conversation with someone.

It's just you. I would love to be asked that during an interview. At this point in my life I want to "aggressively grow my skill set". I DON'T want to be a CEO. If that guy asked me the question, and we decide that he couldn't help me, we'd shake hands and part company. And we'd both be much happier for it.

Well it depends on how it's asked. You definitely want to get a feel for it first and then tailor the question to the candidate.

Even if you are put off by it at first, if it was asked out of genuine interest I'm sure you'd feel positive about it being asked.

I see the acquisition of skills as a side effect of building cool and useful applications (or platforms).

Therefore I would refine the second motivating factor to be: "I want to build something cool and useful that scales to meet the demands of millions of customers".

I just loved this article. Its so rare to see such leaders in this industry. I have worked for so many startups and so far, i have rarely seen such leaders. Wish to see someone in future who can help me acheive my vision