Strategic IQ: Creating Smarter Corporations

3.5

HARNESSING INSATIABLE HUMAN NEEDS

Introduction

Once our basic needs are met, we dedicate ourselves to satisfying our insatiable need for what Maslow termed self-actualization. We are naturally curious and like to learn. We like to create things and seek out new experiences. We seek fulfilment that comes from achieving our very best; after doing so, we want to help others to do the same. Above all, we yearn for common purpose, to rise above our self-interests and serve the common good. In this chapter, we examine the nature of these needs and investigate how firms can harness them to develop higher strategic intelligence.

Maslow's Higher Needs

The highest level of fundamental human needs identified in Maslow's 1943 schema was the need for ...