The Maslow Business Reader
By Deborah Stephens
John Wiley & Sons, 2000 - 304 pages

The key element of Abraham Maslow’s work, especially as it applies to the business world is that while organizations and economies change, people and psychology remain relatively constant.  Mr. Maslow’s work was about his desire to better understand what truly makes humans strive to reach their potential. 

Mr. Maslow wasn’t a business specialist; he was a psychologist and revolutionized behavioral sciences with seminal work on the “hierarchy of needs.”   Mr. Maslow’s work began being preached to business students in the early 1960’s through Douglas McGregor’s work.  

This book is a collection of published and unpublished articles and thoughts by Mr. Maslow, edited by Deborah Stevens.  

This book provides insights from Maslow on fostering entrepreneurship, enhancing creativity in the workplace and maximizing the organizational effectiveness of individual workers through self-actualized work.

If you are looking for a good business book GO ELSEWHERE but if you want to learn about the hierarchy of needs or Abraham Maslow this book may be the book for you.  As a general rating I give the book 3 stars.  Why?  Because, outside of the basic framework on the hierarchy of needs and the evolution of man within it I found the book boring and I consistently found myself searching for groundbreaking or extremely applicable comments in various sections to the realm of business.  Yes, business is about creativity and innovation (even more so in today’s information age) but other books provide more insight into those areas.  Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen is such a book.

Don’t get me wrong, if you have never read Maslow you need to as it is REQUIRED READING at all the top MBA programs and truly is essential in understanding business and managing a business.  Business is about people and understanding what makes them tick.  However, as it pertains to reading material I found myself searching for great commentary and not getting much.  I like to read a book and find myself completely absorbed by it.  I read primarily business books, even some economic philosophy stuff, which is deep stuff but it was far more thought provoking than this book.

 

About the Author: The late ABRAHAM H. MASLOW is the world's most widely renowned expert on human behavior and motivation. Dr. Maslow has contributed seminal works to the literature of business, applying his ideas on human behavior, personality, and motivation to the workforce. DEBORAH C. STEPHENS is the co-founder of the Center for Innovative Leadership. She is the coauthor of One Size Fits One and Douglas McGregor, Revisited and the collaborator on Maslow on Management.