Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow Hardcover – September 21, 2007

As much as I was disappointed with Tony Hsiesh's book "Delivering Happiness" I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I should note that while familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, this was the first time I read something that applied his ideas to the world of business in a formal/systemic manner. For those that have read some of the books Conley cites as his main influence in thinking about how to apply Maslow's ideas to the workplace, you are unlikely to get as much value from the book as I did.

Also, as someone who is interested in the hospitality business I found some of the specifics he discussed around Joie de Vivre to be helpful.

(*** Please note: I have read many fantastic articles by Hsieh, and find it illuminating to watch him speak. I just didn't think his book added depth to the ideas discussed in his shorter form articles/interviews***)

Everyone in business should read this book and apply its principles

Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:

1- "This book is about the miracle of human potential: employees living up to their full potential in the workplace, customers feeling the potential bliss associated with having their unrecognized needs met, and investors feeling fulfilled by seeing the potential of their capital leveraged."

2- "Maslow's message struck a chord with many business leaders. In essence, he said that with humans, there's a qualitative difference between not being sick and feeling healthy or truly alive. This idea could be applied to companies, most of which fall into the middle ground of not sick but not truly alive. Based on his Hierarchy of Needs, the solution for a company that wants to ascend up the healthy pyramid is not just to diminish the negative or to get too preoccupied with basic needs but instead to focus on aspirational needs. This idea is rather blasphemous for some. The tendency in psychology and in business has always been to focus on the deficits. Psychologists and business consultants look for what's broken and try to fix it. Yet, "fixing it" doesn't necessarily offer the opportunity for transformation to a more optimal state of being or productivity."

3- "1. Every company is organized based on a certain premise of human nature. 2. Most companies aren't very conscious of this fact and operate based on an outdated or short-term perspective, even though sustainable results might be better served by a different business approach. 3. Companies have a habitual "tendency toward the tangible," which means that financial results usually get more attention than relationship issues. 4. More and more business scholars and consultants are making the intangible of relationships and the human spirit more tangible, and many successful companies are leading the way with respect to how they reorganize themselves to pursue both profits and happiness."

4- "The Employee Pyramid: Money (Survival) - Creates base motivation, Recognition (Success) - Creates Loyalty, Meaning (Transformation) - Creates Inspiration."

5- "The Customer Pyramid: Meets Expectations (Survival) - Creates satisfaction, Meets Desires (Success) - Creates commitment, Meets Unrecognized Needs (Transformation) - Evangelism."

6- "The Investor Pyramid: Transaction Alignment (Survival) - Creates trust, Relationship Alignment (Success) - Creates Confidence, Legacy (Transformation) - Creates Pride and Ownership."

7- "Finding meaning in one's work--both in what you do daily d in the company's sense of mission--is one of the rarest but most valuable qualities anyone can have in their job."

8- "In reading Frankl's book and in studying dozens of meaning-driven companies, I've come to realize that workplace meaning can be dissected into meaning at work and meaning in work. Meaning at work relates to how an employee feels about the company, their work environment, and the company's mission. Meaning in work relates to how an employee feels about their specific job task. Pollard captures the potential synergy of this dichotomy with the following passage from his book, "As a person sees a reason for the task that is personally satisfying and rewarding and has the confidence that the mission of the firm is in alignment with his or her own personal growth and development, a powerful force is unleashed that results in creativity, productivity, service quality, growth, profit, and value.""

9- "Ironically, the two common elements that define companies that deliver on this level of the pyramid seem diametrically opposed to each other: technology (hard) and people (soft). Companies that know how to harness their technology and empower their people have the potential to deliver customized service that will translate into committed customers."

10- "Buffett represents a growing set of business leaders who believe that "companies obtain the shareholder constituency diat tiiey seek and deserve." He suggests that if companies "focus their thinking and communications on short-term results or short-term stock market consequences they will, in lar^e part, attract shareholders who focus on the same factors." In other words, just understanding your business plan isn't enough for business leaders. You need to also understand the motivations of your investors to ensure they're aligned with your own."

11- "If there's one constant theme in all three pyramids, it's t conventional wisdom is wrong. Conventional wisdom suggests that (1) money is the primary motivator for employees, (2) customers stay loyal when they're satisfied, and (3) investors are exclusively focused on the financial return on investment. As we've seen, these are simply base needs that ignore higher human needs. At the peak of the Investor Pyramid, it's ultimately a legacy, not liquidity, that people seek."

12- "As a guide, I often refer them to the Transformation Pyramid we discussed in Chapter Two. Take a look at whether this activity or priority is a survival need (something that will help provide basic sustenance or comfort), a success need (something that will enhance the performance or experience), or a transformation need (something less predictable, more intangible, and ultimately, most satisfying or memorable). My number one recommendation for those who are using a pyramid to define their peak experience is to make sure you are climbing the right mountain. A midlife crisis is perhaps the natural result of someone realizing they've perhaps climbed the wrong peak."

13- "The base needs are typically "has" needs: what material things we want in our life to give us safety, comfort, pleasure, or status. As humans and societies age, they move beyond the "has" to the "does" needs. As our material needs are met, what one does for a living becomes a more relevant symbol of our identity. At some point, relentless "doing" no longer carries currency, at which point the "is" needs predominate at the peak of the pyramid. You see this in wise men and women and in cultures that have learned that having and doing carry you only so far. When someone or something just "is," it feels pure, essential, powerful, and magnetic. There is a strong sense of presence that accompanies this state of being."

Good product and fast delivery

I watched Chip Conley present on [...] and was so excited about what I heard that I had to buy his book (he shared on the web for free and it turned into a book sale!). I'm only 1/4 of the way through the book, but I'm hooked! This is the most well-written book I've read in a long time.

Chip shares ideas on how companies can succeed by valuing employees and building on their strengths. He explains how to help them achieve self-actualization (Maslow), in other words to be "in the zone." He also talks about the importance of understanding customer and investor needs through his inspirational stories describing how some companies (including his own) excel and build long-term loyalty. He cites psychologists, corporate heroes and others and lists further recommended readings.

Chip's strategies make so much sense to me. I'll be implementing some as I train small to medium sized business about the value of customer service and in a tourism class for [...]

Chip is a great liberal artists in his ability to meld together literary references, studied readings on management and his own experiences with JDV hotels. Insights into what drives great performance from employees, to clients to investors is spot on and the application of Maslow to his principles is a great model to apply to nearly any business.

Chip Conley is a great writer. His books helped me a lot in shaping my mind on becoming an entrepreneur.

Especially poignant in a time that feels equally as bad as the dot com bust, Chip offers inspiring hope that doing good for people is doing good for business. Best of all, "good" can be better defined though Maslow's principles as interpreted for business (an investigation researched by Maslow himself and probably unknown to the greater majority of literate Americans) Chip brings his own understanding of how these principles apply to hospitality. Perhaps most hopefully the book assures and demonstrates how business itself may be the most impressive instrument of social change and justice.