Micheal Garet's Public Library

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory in psychology that Abraham Maslow proposed in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation, which he subsequently extended. His theory contends that as humans meet 'basic needs', they seek to satisfy successively 'higher needs' that occupy a set hierarchy. Maslow studied exemplary people such as Albert Einstein, Jane Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Douglass rather than mentally ill or neurotic people, writing that "the study of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy." (Motivation and Personality, 1987)

This diagram shows Maslow's hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more primitive needs at the bottom.

• an
  organization less like an army (hierarchical, focused on winning) and
  more like a family/community (collaborative, focused on well-being of
  members) than today's large organizations
• better able to deal with complexity
• has a flexible definition of 'work' that is purposeful and meaningful to its people
• is accessible, inclusive and diverse
• is responsive to the communities it operates in
• is self-managed, innovative and entrepreneurial
• generates deep mutual respect and trust in its people
• is resilient and agile, and capable of 'acting in the moment'
• attracts people skilled at collaboration and inclined to work collaboratively
• has a self-determined, shared set of values
• is committed to "not being evil" 
• is amoeba-like (permeable borders, good sensors, able to change shape when necessary, a strong guiding nucleus, and replicable
• is attuned to and responsive to customer needs (rather than "trying to sell them something they don't really need or want")
• accommodates needs and conflicting demands of its people, using principles of reciprocity
• motivates and engages its people
• cross-pollinates people, ideas, knowledge, points of view
• is transparent and authentic
• is not location-based or location-dependent
• uses sustainable, cradle-to-cradle practices, and does more with less
• engages customers and other partners in design, development and decision-making, to tap into the wisdom of crowds
• has
  rotating leadership, with leaders who see where the future is going
  before others do, and inspires others to act on that vision, and who
  are able to translate the complexity around them into simple truths
  that have meaning, direction and predictability (rather than
  encouraging the cult of leadership and the messiah complex of many of
  today's leaders)
• accommodates and leverages the skills and qualities of women
• finds and clears away obstacles that prevent its people from doing their best
• learns from nature
• teaches people to communicate extraordinarily well, and encourages authentic, powerful conversations
• recognizes our responsibility to leave a legacy for our children, and pays attention to them and learns from them

Things You Really Need to Learn

Graphics and Web Design Based on Edward Tufte's Principles

T
his is an outline of Edward Tufte's pioneering work on the  use of graphics to
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what it feels like to be in flow:



• Completely involved, focused, concentrating – with this either due to innate
  curiosity or as the result of training.
  
• Sense of ecstasy – of being outside everyday reality.
  
• Great inner clarity – knowing what needs to be done and how well it is
  going.
  
• Knowing the activity is doable – that the skills are adequate, and neither
  anxious or bored.
  
• Sense of serenity – no worries about self, feeling of growing beyond the
  boundaries of ego – afterwards feeling of transcending ego in ways not thought
  possible.
  
• Timeliness – thoroughly focused on present, don’t notice time passing.
  
• Intrinsic motivation – whatever produces “flow” becomes its own reward.
  

The fact that you were completely immersed in what you were doing,
that the concentration was very high, that you knew what you had to do moment by
moment, that you had very quick and precise feedback as to how well you were
doing, and that you felt that your abilities were stretched but not overwhelmed
by the opportunities for action. In other words, the challenges were in balance
with the skills. And when those conditions were present, you began to forget all
the things that bothered you in everyday life, forget the self as an entity
separate from what was going on — you felt you were a part of something greater
and you were just moving along with the logic of the activity.

Everyone said that it was like being carried by a current, spontaneous,
effortless like a flow. You also forget time and are not afraid of being out of
control. You think you can control the situation if you need to. But it’s hard
because the challenges are hard. It feels effortless and yet it’s extremely
dependent on concentration and skill. So it’s a paradoxical kind of condition
where you feel that you are on a nice edge, between anxiety on the one hand and
boredom on the other. You’re just operating on this fine line where you can
barely do what needs to be done.