Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow

Written by Chip Conley

Narrated by Chip Conley

After a long climb to the pinnacle of the hospitality industry, Chip Conley - CEO and founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality - was rocked to his foundation by a dramatic economic downturn. His company was suddenly undercapitalized and overexposed in the post-dot.com, post 9/11 economy. This desperate situation made Conley reaffirm his belief in psychologist Abraham Maslow's iconic concept of the Hierarchy of Needs and rely on Maslow's theory of human motivation to help his business flourish once more.
In Peak, Conley explores how Joie de Vivre - the second largest boutique hotelier in the world ? overcame the storm that hit the travel industry by applying translations of Maslow's ideas to his company's winning business practices. Part memoir, part theory, and always practical, accessible, and engaging, Peak offers a behind-the-scenes look at Joe de Vivre's remarkable transformation.
Throughout this audiobook, Conley provides real-world examples from other companies including Google, Whole Foods Market, Harley-Davidson, and Southwest Airlines, and shows how anyone can bring similar changes to their own work and personal lives. Peak reveals the miracle of human potential and shows what can happen when employees live up to their full potential, customers are completely transformed by the experience they receive, and investors are fulfilled by leveraging the potential of their capital.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ascent Audio
• Release date: Aug 1, 2008
• ISBN: 9781596592438

Chip Conley

Veteran CEO Chip Conley has created more boutique hotels than anyone in the world. Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, which he grew into America’s second largest boutique hotel company, he speaks around the world on how to find meaning at the intersection of business and psychology. The author of several books, including Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, he was named the Most Innovative CEO in the San Francisco Bay Area, which he calls home. For more information, visit EmotionalEquations.com and ChipConley.com.

Reviews for Peak

[jpsnow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Conley describes how his company, Joie De Vivre Hospitality, has applied Maslow's theory of human needs to achieve impressive success in the hotel history. His straightforward model is explained clearly and backed by the success he achieved even during the worst possible business environment. There are many books about creating a profitable company and many about the importance of corporate culture and people. What I like about this book is that it shows why and how the human factors impact the end results. I've noticed in this genre that everyone uses the same companies as examples, especially Southwest, Starbucks, Best Buy, and Enterprise. Is it merely that these are the hallmarks or is the market lacking examples of others that succeed through similar means? Joie De Vivre is certainly another success story and Chip Conley does cite a few others. If Maslow and the other thought leaders mentioned in this book (Goleman, Csikszentmihalyi, Buckingham, Covey, and Seligman) do provide a basis for success, we should see more and more success stories in the coming years.

[yarmando_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There is good, solid advice for how to improve your company by building deep satisfaction in the workers. I will likely return to this book to dig those nuggets out. But I didn't have patience for the author's style, which struck me as self-aggrandizing and tiresome.