Daniel Pink

Daniel H. Pink grew up in Columbus, Ohio, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Northwestern University as a Truman Scholar, and earned a law degree from Yale, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review, and then, by his own account, never practiced a day of law. Instead he went into public service, serving as an aide to Labor Secretary Robert Reich and, from 1995 to 1997, as chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore. In late 1997 he wrote a Fast Company cover essay, "Free Agent Nation," about the rise of independent work, and turned it into his first book. Six more followed. Daniel is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers, several of them #1: Drive (the science of motivation), To Sell Is Human (the art and science of moving others), When (the science of timing), The Power of Regret (2022), A Whole New Mind, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, and Free Agent Nation. His books have been translated into roughly 46 languages and sold millions of copies. His TED Talk on the puzzle of motivation has been viewed more than 40 million times. Named to the Thinkers50 ranking of the world's most influential business thinkers for six consecutive years, Daniel has also hosted the National Geographic series Crowd Control and, since 2024, writes as a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. He lives in Washington, D.C.