Chip Conley of Airbnb speaks at the Global Alumni Summit in San Francisco.
When people reach the highest level of the pyramid, however, they have successfully found meaning, purpose, and engagement. Conley’ s reinterpretation of the hierarchy of needs was based on one simple question:“ What if we became a self-actualized company?”
Progress and achievement are only possible when we have the time and energy to focus on them. By applying Conley’ s framework, an organization is forced to assess where it currently stands and determine what it will take to get to where it wants to be. As Conley told the alumni audience during the keynote,“ Life and business are about where you pay your attention.”
He went on to cite some revealing statistics about Americans’ relationship with work.“ Two-thirds of people are asleep at the job— they’ re not really that engaged,” Conley said.“ Twenty-five percent see their work as a career, and then a small group, maybe five to ten percent, see their jobs as a calling.”
Conley realized that his framework could change this situation by requiring organizations to take measures— like removing barriers or instituting non-monetary benefits— to create a culture in which employees find more meaning in their work. Great leaders invert the pyramid framework to identify the philosophy that underpins their organization’ s culture and decision-making process.
Conley cited an example of this leadership approach. Eight years ago, on a Southwest flight, he noticed that the airline’ s CEO, Gary Kelly, was handing out peanuts on the plane. At the time, airlines had just begun charging for checked bags. Seeing Kelly was free at the back of the plane, Conley took the opportunity to strike up a conversation, asking:“ Why are you not charging for bags?” In return, Kelly answered with his own question:“ Have you ever noticed that our flight attendants are different from the ones on United?” Conley laughed and said,“ The United flight attendants seem to not enjoy their work, and your people seem to enjoy their work.” Kelly explained that after United instituted the fees, passengers consistently brought more luggage on board. As a result, United experienced a major decline in on-time efficiency, the number one metric for customer loyalty.
So, although other airlines jumped on the baggage fee bandwagon, Southwest elected not to for one key reason: the policy did not align with their“ basic corporate leadership philosophy.” As Kelly explained, Southwest flight attendants are living their calling.“ We want to create an environment where people live their calling. If we do that well, no other airline can compete with us.”
Southwest’ s philosophy aligns perfectly with Conley’ s framework, which lists“ meaning” at the top of the needs hierarchy for an organization’ s employees, above recognition and money.“ This idea that you create an organization that actually helps people live their calling is really critical to great companies. Great companies get that, and they make sure that as [ leaders ], what you do is try to take away obstacles that actually get in the way of people living their calling.”
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