Delivering Happiness

Happiness Framework 2
Chip Conley’s book Peak does an excellent job of describing how Maslow’s
Hierarchy can be condensed to three levels for business purposes and
applied to customers, employees, and investors. The fundamental premise
behind Maslow’s Hierarchy of human needs is that once a person’s survival
needs are met (food, safety, shelter, water, etc.), then humans are more
motivated by other non-materialistic needs such as social status,
achievement, and creativity.
Customers: Meets expectations Meets desires Meets
unrecognized needs
Employees: Money Recognition Meaning
Investors: Transaction Alignment Relationship Alignment 
Legacy
Many companies and managers believe that giving employees more
money will make them happier, whereas most HR surveys show that once
people’s basic needs are met, money is farther down the list of importance
than intangibles such as the quality of the relationship with one’s manager
and professional growth opportunities.
At Zappos, an example of the customer hierarchy at work would be:
Receives correct item (meets expectations).
Free shipping (meets desires).
Surprise upgrade to overnight shipping (meets unrecognized
needs).

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Happiness Framework 3: Three Types of Happiness: Pleasure,
Passion, and Higher Purpose
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Pleasure
The pleasure type of happiness is about always chasing the next high. I like
to refer to it as the “Rock Star” type of happiness because it’s great if you
can have a constant inflow of stimuli, but it’s very hard to maintain unless
you’re living the lifestyle of a rock star. Research has shown that of the
three types of happiness, this is the shortest lasting. As soon as the source of
stimuli goes away, people’s happiness levels drop immediately.
Passion
The passion type of happiness is also known as flow, where peak
performance meets peak engagement, and time flies by. Research has
shown that of the three types of happiness, this is the second longest lasting.
Professional athletes sometimes refer to this state as “being in the zone.”
Higher Purpose
The higher-purpose type of happiness is about being part of something
bigger than yourself that has meaning to you. Research has shown that of

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the three types of happiness, this is the longest lasting. What I find
interesting is that many people go through life chasing after the pleasure
type of happiness, thinking that once they are able to sustain that, then they
will worry about the passion and, if they get around to it, look for their
higher purpose.
Based on the findings of the research, however, the proper strategy
would be to figure out and pursue the higher purpose first (since it is the
longest-lasting type of happiness), then layer on top of that the passion, and
then add on top of that the pleasure type of happiness.