High Output Management

by Andrew S. Grove

Money has significance at all levels of Maslow’s motivation hierarchy. As noted earlier, a person needs money to buy food, housing, and insurance policies, which are part of his physiological and safety/security needs. As one moves up the need hierarchy, money begins to mean something else—a measure of one’s worth in a competitive environment. Earlier I described a simple test that can be applied to determine the role money plays for someone. If the absolute amount of a raise in salary is important, that person is probably motivated by physiological or safety/security needs. If the relative amount of a raise—what he got compared to others—is the important issue, that person is likely to be motivated by self-actualization, because money here is a measure, not a necessity.