InsightfulQuotesof“PyramidofNeeds”

Overall, Abraham Maslow's contributions to psychology remain significant. His focus on human potential and self-actualization continues to inspire and influence various fields.

Change becomes the new normal with increasing paces, and the world becomes more hyperconnected and interdependent, people strive to not only survive in the hyper-competitive business society but also keep growing to unleash their potential. US psychologist Abraham Maslow developed the hierarchy of needs, a theory of human motivation. 

Here are a few of his quotes and how we can learn from them to improve professional competency.

"One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again": The hierarchy of Needs theory proposes a pyramid-like structure of human needs; suggesting individuals strive to fulfill lower-level needs before moving on to higher-level ones. Basic physiological needs (food, water, shelter) form the foundation, followed by safety needs (security, stability), love and belonging needs (connection, intimacy), esteem needs (achievement, recognition), and finally, self-actualization needs (fulfilling one's potential).

It emphasizes the ongoing nature of personal development)growth requires that we move from a fixed to growth mind, from thinking conventionally and conveniently to thinking consequence, thinking innovatively with a long-term perspective. Either individually or collectively, it’s important to overcome “growth pain,” help employees at all levels within an organization to “think out of the box” take reasonable risks, go beyond their defined roles, and demonstrate their creative capacities, intellectual capabilities to bring positive changes and catalyze breakthrough innovation.

"What is necessary to change a person is to change the awareness of thyselves": It highlights the importance of self-awareness in personal growth; it challenges the assumption that everyone knows what they desire) Mindset is at the heart of our belief system. These are beliefs that we all hold and have formed over time and hard experiences.

Changing mindsets is challenging, often if people have been in an organization for a long period of time, their mindset may be one of "I don't want to change, and why should I". A ‘changeable mindset’ is a success factor for any change management effort, a prerequisite to building a culture of innovation, and a trait in any high-performance business. Mindset is everything. Despite your well-intended objective, strategic, and proactive efforts, be cognizant of the consequences, in particular, your own 'discouragement' of failures resulting from inertia and lukewarm support, especially from the level that claims to be "leaders."

"It isn't normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement." It takes planning, adapting, and innovating to enable true meritocracy as a system in which top talented people are chosen and moved ahead based on their talent or achievement. Motivation is the "cognitive momentum" that comes from consistently applying habits congruent with the achievement of the goal.

In an ideal digital working environment with democratic meritocracy, self-motivated leaders, teams, and employees have a passion for challenging themselves, advancing their thinking ability, making things happen, and catalyzing changes.

The hierarchy of needs has been criticized as overly simplistic and not universally applicable across cultures and situations. Overall, Abraham Maslow's contributions to psychology remain significant. His focus on human potential and self-actualization continues to inspire and influence various fields. Developing high mature digital fit workforce won’t happen overnight, it takes planning, adapting, and innovating to enable true meritocracy as a system in which top talented people are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their talent or achievement.

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