BOOK REVIEW
After fifteen years of rising to the pinnacle peak in the hospitality industry, Chip Conley shares in his book a way to create opportunities that celebrate the joy of life.
The book is stacked with a lot of ideas to create happiness in work environments as a means to win higher position in any marketplace. This includes building strategies that develop a loyal customer base toward making a sustainably profitable business.
The full name of the book, “Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow”, clearly describes the content, in which the book synthesizes central theme – the success in business comes not only from meeting people’s needs, but no less important, knowing which needs to meet.
In the book, Conley brings in Maslow, renowned creator of the Hierarchy of Needs pyramid. At the base of the pyramid are survival needs such as food, water and sleep. The next need is in a higher level, which is physical safety, followed by social connections, belonging and self-esteem. The final need, which is perched at the peak of the pyramid, is self-actualization.
Here, Conley highlights the importance of realizing the essence of the pyramid model. The book is worth the reading, indeed, even though the theory might have been harder to achieve in practice.
There are companies that have implemented the model, but only a few that have achieved what it is called “peak”. And Conley, in his book, unearths what lies behind the real word “peak” in a business sense. Investors really “peak” when they sense they are part of something big; the sense that attains a pride of ownership that generates long-term support, business wise.
Text: The Writerpreneur. Published in 3S Newsletter, March-May 2011