Just heard a talk by Chip which was very inspirational. He talked a lot about Abraham H. Maslow's hierarchy, and how it can be applied to employees, customers, and investors. Employee pyramid is: salary => recognition => calling. I thought his principles were similar to Tony Hsieh's book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose. He even mentioned this was true, and that Tony and 10 other companies that had great culture had all studied Maslow (Apple, Southwest, Google, Whole Foods, Zappos, etc).

The top of any pyramid is hard for most business leaders because it's the self-actualization - the intangible stuff, which can't be measured. And most business leaders are taught to run things by the numbers. Told a story to illustrate this about why Southwest doesn't charge fees for checking baggage. It's because they didn't want to make their flight attendants into baggage handlers - which is what happens on other airlines, where everyone tries to carry everything on to save money. Southwest flight attendants are happier than other airlines, and this leads to less employee turnover and higher customer retention. Which saves them money in the long run - it's just impossible to measure. He also noted that the hospital industry did an extensive survey of what the top hospitals in the nation had in common. The results: the nurses were happier and more involved in each one.

Looking forward to the actual book, of which I now have a copy!