Really, really good. Describes a tremendous framework for building a fun, satisfying, and profitable organization or business. Very cool and worth a second read.

Outstanding.

Great management book. I've read a lot of it before, but since I'm into psychology, the addition of Maslow interested me. A different twist. Plus, he's a San Francisco guy...

Review blogged here

In this book, Hotel and hospitality entrepreneur Chip Conley repurposes psychologist Maslow's hierarchy of needs (a pyramid-shaped diagram showing people's most basic needs - physiological sustenance and safety - at the bottom, through layers of belonging and esteem, to the peak level of self-actualisation) and places it in a business settings. For an employee, the base of the pyramid represents adequate payment for their work, the middle is about a sense of belonging, and the top is where they get to flourish and grow within the workplace. Similar pyramids are given for customers and for investors, and in each case the aim of the business is to satisfy all three levels of need, so that the business produces peak experiences for employees, customers and investors.

A lot of the book's recommendations seem to me fairly commonsense. Clearly there are plenty of companies who go no further than meeting their employees pay needs, their customer's basic expectations of the product or service, and their investors expectations for return on investment. But for a company to thrive it has to go further, anticipate and go beyond expectations for all of these three audiences. Conley gives plenty of examples of how this can be done, most of them from the hotel & hospitality sector in which he operates, but easily generalised to other industries.

A quick read with some good insights. As a business owner, it was a good reminder to me that I need to exceed expectations for my clients. As an employee, I got more validation for the idea of not being motivated by money. As a fan of business books, I think I understand better why I'm a fan of business books--because there is a great deal of psychology behind management theory.

I really enjoyed this book and have learned alot from it. I really appreciate hope Chip makes an effort to appreciate all employees no matter what level in the company they belong.

Great management book. I've read a lot of it before, but since I'm into psychology, the addition of Maslow interested me. A different twist. Plus, he's a San Francisco guy...