265. Of MICE And Motivations: Applying CIA Tactics To Leadership

Would you risk your life and your freedom for $100k?

If your answer is some version of “no way, Jose” then you should probably cross ‘double agent’ off your potential side hustle list.

If you watch enough Jason Bourne or Mission Impossible movies, you may begin to believe that double agents are rolling in the Benjamins. They’re not.

Notorious double agent Robert Hanssen, who gave US secrets to the KGB for 15 years, only averaged $93k per year in espionage earnings.

The Falcon and the Snowman chaps (watch the movie), only made a total of $77k between the two of them.

Granted, these are all tax free dollars, but still, it’s not like you’re buying a new Tesla with the money you made from selling your country up the river.

A used, 10 year old Nissan maybe.
A new Tesla… no chance.

This then begs the question about motivations.

The CIA’s MICE Motivations

As I recently learned, money is only one of four reasons people flip to the dark side. And, if the numbers above are any indication, it’s a really bad reason.

The CIA has an acronym for the reasons people become turncoats because the CIA has an acronym for everything because the CIA itself is an acronym.

The acronym I’m referring to is M.I.C.E.

MICE describes the four motivations that could persuade somebody to become an informant. They are:

• Money
• Ideology
• Compromise (blackmail)
• Ego

Everybody’s decision to share sensitive secrets is driven by one of those four motivations. The trick to recruiting a new informant is to figure out which of the MICE motivations are the one to flip them, then go all in.

Turns out, it’s the same at work.

Your Motivations At Work

We tend to assume that everybody is driven by money when it comes to our jobs.

That’s wrong.

I used to think I was driven by money. I was wrong about that too.
I learned the lesson a bunch of years back when I hit a moral crossroads.

I found myself in a position where I had to decide between getting a slight windfall of money or maintaining a close relationship with a family member. Me getting the money would’ve irreparably harmed the relationship.

Without hesitation and without regret, I opted for the relationship over the money.

With this single decision, I realized that my primary motivation isn’t money, it’s Purpose. And my purpose is supporting and helping others grow, which is probably why I became a leadership coach for female execs and entrepreneurs.

We all have a primary motivation to do what we do.
Do you know yours?

Well let me help you.

Though there are four motivations in espionage, only three of them apply to the motivations of us everyday working schmos.

The three motivations at work are:

• Money
• Purpose (aka ideology)
• Ego

I like to call this MoPE. You should call it that too. Then we can have our own secret acronyms, just like the CIA, but better.

Which one of the three motivations drives you?
Let me know in the comments.

How To Understand The Motivations Of Your Team

Here’s an important fact for you:

Motivated employees are 87% less likely to leave a company.

As it turns out, the first step in motivating employees is to understand what they are motivated by.

Your mission as a leader, should you choose to accept it, is to first understand your motivation and then determine which of the three MoPE motivations are relevant to each of your employees.

It’s actually pretty simple to figure out – mostly you just ask them.

Understanding your primary motivation is important, because the way you are motivated will impact how you treat other people. If you are motivated by money, you may assume everyone else is.

But you’d be wrong.

Once you acknowledge your MoPE and that of your subordinates, the next part is figuring out how to use that motivation to your – and their – benefit.

Gratitude and Motivations

As you may remember, there is a massive black hole of gratitude in the workplace. In fact, the number one reason people leave their jobs is due to feeling unappreciated.

Your job as a leader is to make people feel appreciated and valued. The tricky thing is that everybody feels appreciation in different ways. Actually, there are only three ways. But you know that. They are:

• More Money
• Greater Purpose, and
• Bigger Ego

Sure people like money, but giving raises usually only works in the short-term for the people motivated by money, but not so much with the others.

Similarly, giving somebody an award for being employee of the month will help the people driven by ego, but maybe not the others as much.

I think you see where I’m going with this so maybe I’ll just shut my yapper now and bring this diatribe to a close.

Understanding Motivations The CIA Way

Understanding the MoPE of your team isn’t just a fun exercise where you can ask your employees tough questions and make them squirm in their seats, it’s an important journey in unlocking the true potential of your team.

By understanding everybody’s motivations you can better foster a culture of appreciation, enhance your company’s happiness quotient and improve your retention rate.

That seems like a pretty good return, dontcha think?

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