Reward effort, not outcome
Reward the quality of effort and process rather than the visible result. Outcomes contain luck, and rewarding fruits alone trains people to chase fruits instead of doing good work.
Sundar Pichai’s advice turns the usual performance review upside down: reward the people doing the work, not the people focused on the fruits.
E1The reward rewrites the job
An outcome is produced by at least two moving parts: the work and circumstances outside the worker’s control. When you reward only the final result, you treat both as merit. People then learn that appearing near a winning outcome matters more than building a sound process. Rewarding effort instead makes the repeated behavior—not the lucky fruit—the target. This is the core of Incentive Design: the measured behavior becomes the real assignment.
E1Where it shows up
Work before fruit
Pichai’s formulation separates contribution from payoff: recognize the people engaged in the work rather than those oriented chiefly toward its visible rewards.
E1Effort is not automatically good
This principle does not mean rewarding motion, long hours, or sincere persistence regardless of quality. Effort deserves reinforcement when it reflects a sound process; outcomes still supply evidence that the process may need correction.
Score one controllable behavior
Tomorrow, choose one result you normally evaluate and name the observable process that should produce it. Give recognition for that behavior—such as a careful experiment, a well-tested draft, or an early disclosure of bad news—even if the immediate outcome disappoints.
Episodes that teach this
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This Bhagvad Gita Lesson Will Change Your Life - Karmanye Vadhikaraste - FutureIQ
· explained at 4:17
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Sundar Pichai's advice quoted as 'reward efforts not outcomes... reward the guys doing the work, not the guys focused on the fruits.'