Abraham Maslow was An American psychologist born in 1908 who defined the Hierarchy of needs, today also called Maslow’s hierarchy of needs or Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, Even though he never represented it on that visual way.
Basically he described human needs as ordered in a prioritized hierarchy which can only be fulfilled one level at a time. In other words, we have to fulfilled basic survival needs in order to start taking care of superior human and social needs, etcetera.
Maslow defined 5 levels of human needs; from bottom to top:
- Physiological needs
- Safety needs
- Love & Social needs
- Esteem needs
- Self-actualization.
So far, this is what we can find on Wikipedia regarding the definition of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, but
Do Organizations have an equivalent to Maslow’s Pyramid?
Let’s dig into this matter and we will attempt to clarify it in the upcoming lines.
Physiological needs could have an analogy with the basic need any entrepreneur or company has at the beginning of its journey. A value proposition idea or intuition which leads to a product or service to be offered to the market as a MVP. Without that, there is no way to climb in the pyramid of business creation.
Once we have this, next level referred as Safety needs, will match with the need of the Organization to have an early adopter customer, investor or someone who will add necessary cash to continue the journey. This is mandatory to proceed with the necessary Operations and Processes in order to continue building, what at this stage starts to look like a company
Let’s move to higher level, Love and belonging need, comes when a company already sells its product/ service and could be described as the search of the Product- Market Fit . In this process company will do all in its hands to attract market need to its offer, pivoting, improving, listening and adapting to target market, same as when people search friendship and love.
Level 4 comes once Product-Market fit is achieved, at this point, the business feels comfortable knowing there is a market for its product/service; in other words we are covering the Esteem need and getting the required confidence to continue growing the business.
At the top of the Pyramid, once first 4 D-needs (deficit needs) has been fulfilled, Organization is on a position where a tested value proposition has engaged enough capital to get the Product-Market fit and market awareness and sales are generating desired effect on the business, including revenue, growth or stability among others.
This level which according to Maslow occurs when individuals reach a state of harmony and understanding because they are engaged in achieving their full potential is similar to when a company is known as a Loved Brand and has strong emotional connections with its customers.
Most of brand-new companies hardly reach to level 2 and those which survive, in many cases get stuck at level 3 or 4 maximum.
In order to develop a successful business, having a Strategic vision, Optimizing operations and focusing on Continuous Improvement are crucial, because our Business survival is at stake.
Maybe we should take Maslow’s ideas as guidance and build our business pyramid at 1 level at a time, instead of trying to become a love brand when our MVP is not validated yet
Let us know your thoughts, Do you agree with the given analogy? would you define it differently?
