Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

by Chip Heath

Or consider another version of the same task. Let’s say you’re trying to persuade someone to take a new job in a department that’s crucial to the company’s success. Here are three possible pitches for the new job: 1. Think about how much security this job provides. It’s so important that the company will always need someone in this job. 2. Think about the visibility provided by this job. Because the job is so important, a lot of people will be watching your performance. 3. Think about how rewarding it will be to work in such a central job. It offers a unique opportunity to learn how the company really works. The chasm between ourselves and others opens again. Most people say No. 3—an appeal to Learning—would be most motivating for them. Those same people predict that others would be most motivated by No. 1 (Security) and No. 2 (Esteem). In other words, a lot of us think everyone else is living in Maslow’s basement—we may have a penthouse apartment, but everyone else is living below. The result of spending too much time in Maslow’s basement is that we may overlook lots of opportunities to motivate people. It’s not that the “bottom floors”—or the more tangible, physical needs, to avoid the hierarchy metaphor—aren’t motivational. Of course they are. We all like to get bonuses and to have job security and to feel like we fit in. But to focus on these needs exclusively robs us of the chance to tap more profound motivations.