Read an Excerpt
Maslow on Management
Abraham H. Maslow with Deborah C. Stephens and Gary Heil
ISBN: 0-471-24780-4
Introduction This is not about new management tricks or gimmicks or superficial techniques that can be used to manipulate human beings more efficiently. Rather it is a clear confrontation of one basic set of orthodox values by another newer system of values than claims to be both more efficient, and more true. It draws on some of the truly revolutionary consequences of the discovery that human nature has been sold short.
----- Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow
What can a set of journal entries that are nearly 37 years old teach us about managing today? We asked ourselves that question when Ann Kaplan, Abe's daughter, approached us with the idea of republishing them. Our answer is that Maslow's ideas about work, -self-actualization, and the influence of business in developing "the good society" are some of the most profound thinking we have discovered in nearly 20 years of studying leaders.
We immersed ourselves in Maslow's work: his published books, articles, and personal papers. Although we had always equated Maslow with his hierarchy of needs theory, we discovered in his work a collection of research and wisdom and insights that were decades ahead of its time. His pioneering work in the field of management, creativity, and innovation speaks to us today in a voice that makes current work and thinking appear almost obsolete. Maslow's theories regarding -self-actualization and work, customer loyalty, leadership, and the role of uncertainty as a source of creativity, paint a picture of today's digital age that is profound.
The future Maslow describes in his journals is the world we live in today-the digital age. A world in which human potential will be the primary source of competitive advantage in almost every industry, every organization, every institution. Maslow's work makes us question whether we understand the crossroads we have come to. A crossroads, where in our effort to just keep pace, we will need committed, educated, and highly motivated people at all levels; crossroads where compliance or authoritarian means of leadership no longer work; crossroads where the needs of society and the needs of a business are becoming so intertwined that if one entity is dysfunctional the other will suffer the consequences.
Yet, are we prepared to go forward? We speak the language of this new frontier, but have yet to embrace the meaning. We need look no further than our new vernacular for people: intellectual capital, human resources, knowledge workers, and all of the other terms we have invented to disguise the fact that what we are speaking of are people and their untapped potential. People spend too many hours in organizations and institutions that do not support them in reaching their true potential. We believe this should be as much a driving force as financial management, product development, return on investment, and all of the other indicators we put into place to measure success. Without this force, our successes will be short lived, our plans nothing more than short-term, and our ability to continue to compete in a global world severely restrained. Perhaps it is time we embrace Maslow's words and truly believe that we can create organizations which fully tap the true potential of people.
Building Great Organizations
In bringing back the journals of Abraham Maslow, we set out to prove that his theories and ideas were, in fact, possible. Our journey took us to leaders in a wide variety of industries. We asked these leaders to discuss their thoughts on Maslow's words and their own struggles and triumphs in building enlightened organizations.
We would like to thank the numerous leaders who gave their time to read these journals and who allowed us time to explore their thoughts:
Mort Meyerson, Former Chairman, Perot Systems
Warren Bennis, University of Southern California
George McKown, Chairman McKown and DeeLeeuw
David Wright, Chief Executive Officer, Amdahl
Linda Alepin, Chief Executive Officer, Pebblesoft Learning
Brian Lehnen, Director, Village Enterprise Trust
Sherri Rose, Former Director, Apple University
Michael Ray, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Jackie McGrath, Insight Out Collaborations
Anne Robinson, Former Chairman and Co-Founder, Windham Hill Records
Michael Murphy, Co-Founder, Esalen Institute
Andrew Kay, Founder, KAYPRO Computers
Tom Kosnik, Professor Engineering and Global Marketing, Stanford University
Stanford Engineering students in IE 292
Aspen Ski Company
Pat O'Donnell, Chief Executive Officer, Aspen Ski Company
Richard Karesh, Co-author, Fifth Discipline Handbook; founder, Learning Org. Dialogue
Art Kleiner, Co-author Fifth Discipline Handbook; Author, Age of Heretics
Allan Webber, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, Fast Company Magazine
Ken Morris, Co-Founder, PeopleSoft
Dr. John Popplestone, History of American Psychology at the University of Akron
Dr. Edward Hoffman, Author, The Right to Be Human: A Biography of Abraham Maslow
Allan Wernick, Attorney at Law, Columbus, Ohio
Jeanne Glasser, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., for her enthusiastic support of this project
We would like to thank Ann Kaplan and Ellen Maslow for persisting in their efforts to bring their father's work to a new generation of leaders and managers. Their gift to us was significant: Through the process of bringing their father's journals back to life, we ourselves have become better educators, better leaders, better parents, and better human beings.
Deborah C. Stephens
Gary Heil
July 1998
The Center For Innovative Leadership
San Mateo, California