"At last! We have all been quoting Maslow for years and to now have such an excellent compilation of his seminal thoughts on management and organization comes like a timely gift from heaven. The values and principles he taught decades ago are even more relevant today." —Stephen Covey, author, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.

"Maslow's book is a readable, impressionistic masterpiece that extolled the virtues of collaborative, synergistic management decades ahead of its time. This edition reveals just how much the management thinkers of our day, including Peter Drucker, W. Edwards Deming, and Peter Senge, owe to Maslow, and how much, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, management can still learn from his insights." —Andrea Gabor, author, The Man Who Discovered Quality.

"Maslow's brilliant and humane perspectives are made easily accessible in this exceptional book. It's also quite humbling—why haven't we yet actualized the truths about human nature and the nature of work?" —Margaret J. Wheatley, author, Leadership and the New Science and A Simpler Way.

"Maslow's profound concept of self-actualization could generate a Copernican Revolution of work and society, catapulting us out of what future generations will look back on as the dark ages of management." —Jim Collins, coauthor, Built to Last.

"In an age of self-directed teams, team-based improvement, and enterprisewide knowledge management, Maslow's concept of enlightened economics, resonates more today than when he originally formulated his ideas." —John Peetz, Chief Knowledge Officer, Ernst & Young LLP.

"Abraham Maslow's vision on living with ambiguity and lack of structure are profound. His humility as a scientist never let him take credit for his incredible insight into the future of business structure, let alone the value of work itself. Now, we can correct this error." —Watts Wacker, Resident Futurist, SRI International; founder, FirstMatter LLC; author, The 500 Year Delta.

"Proper management of the work lives of human beings, of the way in which they earn their living, can improve them and improve the world and in this sense be a utopian or revolutionary technique." —Abraham Maslow.

The pioneer behind the hierarchy of needs and the concept of self-actualization, Dr. Abraham Maslow was—and is—one of the world's most esteemed experts on human behavior and motivation. However, while perhaps most famous for his work in the area of humanistic psychology, his legacy of work encompasses much more, extending into the realms of business and management. Having explored and studied the relationship between human behavior and the work situation, Maslow translated the science of the mind into the art of management=an important interpretation first published in the far-sighted treatise, Eupsychian Management, and whose impact continues to be felt today. Now, this seminal work has been updated, primed to introduce new readers to—and reacquaint old admirers with—what some have called the renowned psychologist's best book.

Bringing into perspective the lasting impact of Maslow's groundbreaking principles, Maslow on Management illustrates how they have withstood the test of time to become integral components of current management practices, such as continuous improvement, Theory X, and empowerment. Offering insight into using these and other tools to effectively tackle present-day business situations, from heightened competitiveness to globalization to emerging technologies, Maslow on Management covers a wealth of timeless topics, including:

• Self-actualization—the freedom to effectuate one's own ideas, try things out, make decisions, and make mistakes
• Synergy—what is beneficial for the individual is beneficial for everyone; individual success should not occur at the expense of others; align organizational goals with personal goals
• Enlightened management policy—assume that all your people have the impulse to achieve; everyone prefers to be a prime mover rather than a passive helper; everyone wants to feel important, needed, useful, successful, and proud; there is no dominance-subordination hierarchy.

To complement Dr. Maslow's original writings and to demonstrate how his forward-thinking ideas are being played out in today's business world, Maslow on Management features interviews with Perot Systems Chairman Mort Meyerson, Non-Linear Systems founder Andrew Kay, Esalen Institute founder Michael Murphy, and other prominent figures who provide incisive commentary on subjects ranging from creativity in business to leadership lessons for the digital age.

Epitomizing the genius of its author and embodying his elegant ruminations, Maslow on Management is still as important as it was when it first appeared. A true classic, this is essential reading for all managers.

In 1962, Maslow spent the summer at an electronics factory that was one of the first to try giving workers a say in organizing production. He watched and kept a journal, later published under the intimidating title Eupsychian Management. The book, which had been long out of print, has been republished with extensive commentaries as Maslow on Management.

Some of Maslow on Management is, as Warren Bennis writes in the foreword, "hilariously innocent." Reflecting on the power of well-managed workplaces to unleash creativity, Maslow suggests that the U.S. economy would benefit "if we kept all the factories running at full blast and simply gave things away." Yet his deeper point--that good management leads to good psychological health--is startlingly advanced for 1962, when the business world was still widely thought of as nurturing nothing more than soulless conformity. He was surprisingly prescient, too, in warning that participatory management taken to excess becomes sloppy and weak. While encouraging open communication, an effective leader "should have the power and the ability to keep his mouth shut," Maslow writes. He advises that gentle, permissive management is fine if workers share democratic values, but if not, "break their backs immediately."

Full of rambling, half-finished thoughts and provocative speculations, Maslow on Management is no nine-step plan for building winning work teams. But anyone seriously interested in understanding management will find the book useful as a fascinating reflection of a brilliant mind thinking deeply about the nature and purpose of work. --Barry Mitzman