Executive #Bookshelf : Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow - Chip Conley @ChipConley
Synopsis
After fifteen years of rising to the pinnacle of the hospitality industry, Chip Conley's company was suddenly undercapitalized and overexposed in the post-dot.com, post-9/11 economy. For relief and inspiration, Conley, the CEO and founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, turned to psychologist Abraham Maslow's iconic Hierarchy of Needs. This book explores how Conley's company "the second largest boutique hotelier in the world" overcame the storm that hit the travel industry by applying Maslow's theory to what Conley identifies as the key Relationship Truths in business with Employees, Customers and Investors.
Part memoir, part theory, and part application, the book tells of Joie de Vivre's remarkable transformation while providing real world examples from other companies and showing how readers can bring about similar changes in their work and personal lives. Conley explains how to understand the motivations of employees, customers, bosses, and investors, and use that understanding to foster better relationships and build an enduring and profitable corporate culture.
Tom’s Take:
CEO of Joie De Vivre hotel chain writes about his approach to business through Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Quite a personal book, exploring how Conley re-discovered Maslow during the dot bomb recession and used that to re-focus his business. This is an engaging easy to read book, and excels when Conley explores his own motivation through Maslow's framework. The classic Hierarchy of Needs is a great lens in which to frame ideas, and Conley explores it for the benefit of the customer, employee and investor. I think the sections focusing on how to make sure investors are in alignment with the business is the freshest part of the book, and shows how Conley uses Maslow's ideas in new ways. This book stays real, without getting caught in lofty and less useful ideas.