ATLANTA – NACS Show keynote speaker Chip Conley, acclaimed business leader and author, delivered a sermon of sorts to attendees.
“My sermon of success relates to humans: How do we understand humans better? If you understand humans better, you’re more likely to be successful,” he said.
Conley, founder and former CEO of Joie de Vivre — California’s largest independent hotel company and America’s second-largest boutique hotelier, said he has much in common with c-store retailers.
“We tend to employ many of the same people,” he said. “Quite often people who have not gone to college, who are earning an hourly wage, many of them immigrants in what some people on the outside would consider dead-end jobs.”
Conley spoke about psychologist Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” theory, which represents our basic needs as humans near the bottom of a pyramid, such as survival, to the needs we seek when ?our lives are thriving, those geared toward transformation.
Applying the model to employees, he said “money” is the base of the pyramid, and “recognition” is found in the middle.
“When people are recognized by their boss, they’re more likely to be loyal,” he said. “If you create an environment where people feel like what they do matters, they step up.”
The top of the employee pyramid of needs is “meaning.” This can be an internal motivator based on inspiration. It equates to somebody feeling as if they’re fulfilling their calling in life.?So how does one help a cashier or an employee who cleans toilets find meaning?in their work? Show them the value of it to others.
“It’s not easy to help people who are making minimum wage to have a sense of calling,” he said. “But the truth is, if you can get the basics (such as money) satisfied with your employees, you can help housekeepers or cashiers move up this pyramid to the top and if you do, it takes a lot less work to manage people who are living their calling than those who are living a job.”
Read more about Conley’s presentation and complete NACS Show coverage in the upcoming November issue of NACS Magazine.