Every Company Needs a Good Map

We have reached the top level of the pyramid. As with any lofty peak, very few people reach this point. That so few people reach this level of motivation, Maslow considered each need to be a motivator, is unfortunate. The first 4 needs are automatic, biological, and seemingly hardwired into us. These higher needs are usually not seen or felt until the lower levels are fulfilled. Even when the lower levels are satisfied some people choose to stop there and coast.

My understanding of this need is that it is the need to help others fill their needs and begin to fulfill their higher order needs. The 8th Habit that Covey talks about, the habit of helping others to find their voice, is a form of this need. It is the sense of responsibility to help others that some feel when all of their needs have been satisfied. The need to give back that Guy Kawasaki talks about in The Art of the Start. (I'm not sure how Truemors fills this need but it seems to have captured a lot of his emotion.)

I think that it is important to distinguish this desire to help others from the powertrip that politically active people, managers, and elder siblings often feel. The powertrip is the desire to tell others how to live their lives. To direct, dictate, or force people to do things they did not want or desire to do it not Transcendence, it's being bossy. People who think they have the solution to everyone's problems often have more of their own that they cannot solve.

Transcendence is the desire, or need, to help another fulfill the need that most troubles them at the particular point in their life. It is a desire to teach and train, not direct and demand. It can be a guiding factor for mentors, life coaches, and should be for parents.

As a manager, boss, or leader it is important to work to achieve this level. You should not have to worry about being replaced as much as you should worry that the people who work with you being unable to replace you should the time come. It has been my experience that the more you help build people up, the better your team becomes. Maybe it is Karma, what goes around comes around, but I have found that it rarely pays to burn bridges.

As I said before, I'm not sure how you can directly apply this to marketing a product, but I think  how you can apply this to becoming a better leader, person, or friend is easy to see. If you have not reached this level of your life, don't worry unless you have no sense wanting to get there. If you really don't care to help others, then by all means, let people know so that they can avoid you.

I think you can use this need to motivate you to market in a more beneficial way, but I am not sure you can use this need in others to market to them. Am I wrong; is there a way to use this need for marketing purposes?

BTW - I found an online copy of the original article by Abraham Maslow: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm