October 28, 2007

Just Finished Reading Chip Conley's PEAK

What initially drew me to the book was not the title, the author's name, nor the mention of Maslow, but the seemingly content face on the cover. A person that looks this happy must be doing well, I thought to myself, so I gave it a shot.

Chip Conley brings together Abraham Maslow's Hiearchy of Needs with his own story about his once struggling san franciscan boutique hotel chain Joie de Vivre. The book starts off with a little bit of Maslow's view on human needs (i.e. their ladderlike nature), and briefly describes what these needs are, in the order in which we attain them:
  • Physiological - fulfilling hunger, the need for sleep, etc.
  • Safety - the need to feel secure
  • Love (Social/Connectedness) - the need for affection
  • Esteem - respect for others
  • Self Actualization - Self fulfillment
[Note: The last need truly reminds me of Soren Kierkegaard's view of a persons ultimate commitment, whereby a person finds ultimate meaning in life via an intense period of questioning pseudo-commitments. Check out Fear & Trembling by Kierkegaard if this appears remotely interesting to you, I highly recommend it!]

Conley effectively portrays how Maslow's theory applies to employees, investors, and customers, the latter which is often overemphasized in our customer-centric world. A couple of quick examples will help elucidate what Conley is trying to get across.

1. Customers have basic needs and expectations when it comes to a service or product, understanding the baseline is as important as meeting it. However, true value lies when a customer is presented with a solution to a need which was previously unknown.

2. Employees have the basic need of money and earning a living. However, as this need becomes permanently, or transiently fulfilled, other more meaningful questions arise, such as, is this job my true calling? Is there meaning for me in this? etc.

These concepts are not inherently difficult to understand -- find out what a stakeholders needs are and work up from there. However, Conley's biographical method of explaining the theory and its many applications serve as a good reminder that business, and the world we live in, remains about people and how we go about fulfilling needs.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Good post! Is there a way to include a picture of Conley's Maslovian hierarchy? You're right that our society ("world") is very customer-centric so I like how Conley and you rebalance that with the needs of the employee and investor. After all, happy employees make happy customers. I look forward to reading more from you =)