Rethinking Incentives: What Leaders Miss About Employee Engagement | Stephan Meier | 652

Are your compensation strategies sabotaging employee engagement?

In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, host Peter Winick sits down with Stephan Meier, Chair of the Management Division at Columbia Business School and a leading voice in behavioral economics.

Stephan shares insights from his journey—from academia to the Federal Reserve to corporate advisory—exploring how behavioral science can reshape the way organizations understand motivation, incentives, and employee experience.

They dive into why traditional, money-centric reward systems fall short—and how many leaders still default to outdated playbooks. Stephan challenges organizations to look beyond perks and pay, and instead design work environments that leverage autonomy, purpose, and learning.

The conversation introduces the concept behind his new book, "The Employee Advantage", and draws a powerful parallel: Treat employees like customers. Personalize their experience. Listen deeply. Improve constantly.

This episode offers practical, research-backed ideas that any leader can implement to drive performance, engagement, and retention. If you think a ping-pong table is the answer to your culture problems, think again.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Money isn’t enough – Beyond a certain point, financial incentives have limited impact on motivation. Intrinsic drivers like autonomy, purpose, and learning matter more.

• One-size-fits-all doesn’t work – Just as customer experience is personalized, employee experience should be too. Engagement improves when organizations tailor motivation strategies to individual needs.

• Culture is built through systems – Perks like ping-pong tables won’t fix disengagement. Real impact comes from designing systems that listen to employees and support continuous improvement.

If Stephan Meier’s insights on behavioral economics and humanizing the workplace sparked your interest, you’ll want to check out this powerful conversation with Ryan McCarty and Mark Goulston.

While Stephan focused on the science behind motivation and engagement, Ryan and Mark dive into the heart of it—how purpose, empathy, and service can transform leadership and culture. It’s a natural next step in rethinking what truly drives people at work.

Discover how servant leadership can elevate your impact and deepen connection across your organization: Listen to the episode.