Maslow on Management
What does the famous creator of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Motivation say about motivating humans?
A series of articles from Maarten van Doorn, Charles Chu and I have been talking about empathy, happiness, and meaning. I linked to them in You Don’t Know Water Until You’ve Left Your Fishbowl, in which I explained the difference between hedonic and eudaimonic happiness.
Scholars of happiness make a distinction between hedonic happiness and eudaimonic happiness. The former relates to hedonism, for which the modern catchphrase might be “Sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll,” but eudaimonic happiness is more about self-actualization — i.e., becoming the best version of your true self, including finding what the Japanese call Ikigai.
— from ‘You Don’t Know Water Until…’
Hedonic happiness is found in the bottom half of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Motivation, where we find food, shelter, safety, and sex. Eudaimonic happiness is found at the top, where we find self esteem, self efficacy, a sense of community and belonging, and self actualization.
As a teacher, I used to think that creating a learning environment that allowed my students to work at the top of the pyramid was the best thing I could do for everyone. After all, that’s where intrinsic motivation…
