Measuring what makes life worthwhile - Chip Conley

Summary

The speaker discusses the importance of reevaluating what we value in leadership and business, using the story of a Vietnamese immigrant, Vivian, to illustrate the significance of emotional connections over tangible metrics. Inspired by Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Bhutan's focus on Gross National Happiness, the speaker advocates for a 'transformation pyramid' that prioritizes intangible values like meaning and connection. He challenges the reliance on traditional measures like GDP, urging leaders to consider metrics that reflect true well-being and happiness, both for individuals and organizations.

Takeaways

• 😀 The 21st century calls for a reevaluation of what we consider valuable and how we measure success, with a focus on intangibles like emotional connection and meaning.
• 🌟 Vivien's story illustrates the importance of emotional connections at work, which can provide inspiration and meaning beyond the tangible aspects of a job.
• 🏢 The speaker's company, Ziv, learned from Vivien's example to prioritize the emotional well-being of employees and customers, leading to increased loyalty and reduced turnover.
• 📉 During economic downturns, focusing on intangible values can help businesses thrive, as seen when the speaker's company grew despite industry-wide revenue drops.
• 📚 The speaker rediscovered Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs and adapted it into a 'Transformation Pyramid' to address higher-level needs in business.
• 🔍 The company started measuring less tangible metrics, such as employees' understanding and belief in the company's mission, and customers' emotional connections.
• 📈 By focusing on these higher-level needs, the company saw significant improvements in customer loyalty and employee retention.
• 🌐 A global survey revealed that while 94% of business leaders recognize the importance of intangibles, only 5% have ways to measure them, indicating a gap in current business practices.
• 🇧🇹 The concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) in Bhutan offers an alternative to GDP, focusing on well-being and creating conditions for happiness rather than just pursuing economic growth.
• 📊 Bhutan's approach to measuring GNH includes a system of indicators and metrics that value quality of life over mere economic output.
• 🤔 The emotional equation proposed by the speaker suggests that happiness is about wanting what you have, not having what you want, challenging the Western pursuit of happiness as an external goal.
• 🛠️ The speaker advocates for a new approach to measurement in business and economics that values intangibles and the human aspects of work and life.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the talk?

The main theme of the talk is the importance of focusing on intangible values and metrics in leadership and business, particularly in the 21st century.

What is the significance of the story about Van Quash (Vivien)?

The story of Van Quash (Vivien) illustrates the idea that what truly counts in one's job is not the task itself but the emotional connection and the impact one has on others, such as taking care of people far from home.

What was the speaker's first business venture?

The speaker's first business venture was buying a pay-by-the-hour motel in the inner city of San Francisco and starting a company called Ziv.

How did the economic downturn affect the speaker's hotel business?

During the economic downturn, the speaker's hotel business in the San Francisco Bay Area experienced the largest percentage revenue drop in the history of American hotels.

Why did the speaker receive letters from places like Alabama and Orange County?

The speaker received letters because people mistakenly thought his company, Ziv, was French due to its name, and they wanted to boycott it during a period of anti-French sentiment in the U.S.

What concept did the speaker rediscover in the self-help section of a bookstore?

The speaker rediscovered Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which later inspired him to create the transformation pyramid.

What is the transformation pyramid?

The transformation pyramid is a concept the speaker developed, based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which includes survival, success, and transformation as key levels of organizational and individual needs.

How did the speaker's company address the higher needs of employees and customers?

The company started asking questions about employees' understanding, belief in, and impact on the company's mission, as well as customers' emotional connection with the brand in various ways.

What is Gross National Happiness (GNH)?

Gross National Happiness is an alternative measure of success proposed by the King of Bhutan, focusing on the well-being and happiness of citizens rather than just economic growth.

What did the speaker learn from the Bhutanese approach to happiness?

The speaker learned that Bhutan creates conditions for happiness to occur, using a system of four essential pillars, nine key indicators, and 72 different metrics to measure GNH.

How does the speaker suggest we should rethink our approach to counting and measuring in business and life?

The speaker suggests that we should move beyond just measuring tangible metrics and start valuing and measuring intangibles like emotional connection, employee happiness, and cultural respect.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 The Power of Counting in Leadership

The speaker introduces the concept of reevaluating what we count in leadership, using the story of Vivian, a Vietnamese immigrant who found joy in her work through emotional connections. The narrative shifts to the speaker's experience with his company, ZIV, during economic downturns and the realization of the importance of intangible values. The speaker discusses Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs and its application to business, leading to the creation of the 'Transformation Pyramid,' which emphasizes survival, success, and transformation. The lack of metrics for these higher needs prompts the speaker to explore less obvious measures of employee and customer satisfaction.

05:01

📊 Measuring the Intangibles in Business

This paragraph delves into the speaker's journey to find metrics for the intangible aspects of business, such as employee mission understanding and customer emotional connection. The speaker discovers that focusing on these higher-level needs leads to increased loyalty and reduced employee turnover. Despite the awareness of intangibles' importance, only a small percentage of leaders measure them, leading to a broader discussion about the limitations of traditional metrics. The speaker challenges the audience to value the intangibles and not just the tangibles, using Einstein's quote to emphasize the point.

10:01

🌈 The Quest for Gross National Happiness

The speaker shares his experience in Bhutan, where the focus is on Gross National Happiness (GNH) over GDP. The King of Bhutan's innovative approach to measuring and managing happiness through four essential pillars, nine key indicators, and 72 metrics is highlighted. The speaker contrasts the Bhutanese model with the Western pursuit of happiness and suggests that the Bhutanese way of fostering gratitude and contentment with what one has could be a more effective approach. The influence of Bhutan's GNH movement on global leaders and the potential for a new global currency of well-being is also discussed.

15:02

🛠️ Rethinking Our Metrics for a Better Future

In the final paragraph, the speaker calls for a rethinking of the metrics we use to measure success, both in business and in life. He criticizes the reliance on GDP as an outdated industrial-era model and suggests that we need a new set of tools to value intangibles. The speaker reflects on the importance of employee happiness and its connection to business profits, advocating for business and political leaders to count what truly matters: people and their well-being. He concludes by encouraging the audience to start counting meaningful metrics in their own lives and businesses.

Keywords

💡Leadership

Leadership in the context of the video refers to the ability to guide and influence others towards a common goal. It is central to the theme as the speaker discusses the importance of leaders recognizing and valuing intangible aspects of business and life, such as emotional connections and employee well-being, which contribute to overall success and happiness.

💡Hierarchy of Needs

The Hierarchy of Needs, as introduced by Abraham Maslow, is a psychological theory that prioritizes human needs into a pyramid structure, starting from basic physiological needs to the highest level of self-actualization. In the video, the speaker adapts this concept to the business world, emphasizing the importance of addressing not only the basic needs but also the higher-level needs of employees for transformational success.

💡Transformation Pyramid

The Transformation Pyramid is the speaker's adaptation of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for organizations. It includes survival, success, and transformation as its levels. This concept is integral to the video's message, illustrating the progression from meeting basic needs to achieving a higher purpose and transformation in both business and life.

💡Intangibles

Intangibles refer to non-physical aspects such as intellectual property, corporate culture, brand loyalty, and emotional connections. The speaker argues that while these are often deemed important by business leaders, they are difficult to measure and thus often overlooked. The video challenges the traditional focus on tangible metrics, advocating for a more holistic approach that values intangibles.

💡Gross National Happiness (GNH)

Gross National Happiness is a concept introduced by the King of Bhutan, which prioritizes the well-being and happiness of citizens over economic growth measured by GDP. The video uses GNH as an example of an alternative metric for success, highlighting the need to consider happiness and well-being in governance and business practices.

💡Metrics

Metrics in the video are the means of measurement used to evaluate performance or progress. The speaker points out the discrepancy between the importance placed on intangible aspects of business and the lack of metrics to measure them effectively. The video encourages the development and use of metrics that capture the intangible values contributing to overall success.

💡Emotional Connection

Emotional Connection is the bond or relationship that people form with each other, which is a key intangible aspect discussed in the video. The speaker uses the story of Vivian, a motel maid, to illustrate how emotional connections with employees and customers can inspire and create loyalty, which are critical for business success.

💡Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement refers to the involvement and satisfaction of employees with their work. The video emphasizes the importance of understanding and influencing the higher needs of employees, such as feeling a part of the company's mission and having an impact on it, which can lead to increased loyalty and reduced turnover.

💡Cultural Shift

Cultural Shift denotes a change in the prevailing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors within a society or organization. The video discusses the need for a cultural shift in how we value and measure success, moving away from a sole focus on tangible economic indicators like GDP towards a more balanced approach that includes intangible aspects of well-being and happiness.

💡Service Industry

The Service Industry is a sector of the economy that focuses on the provision of services rather than physical goods. The video points out that a significant portion of the world's GDP comes from this intangible sector, highlighting the need for a broader set of tools to measure and value the contributions of this industry effectively.

💡Census

A Census is an official count of the population, typically conducted periodically by governments. The speaker uses the example of the U.S. Census to illustrate the current focus on tangible metrics, suggesting that meaningful intangible metrics, such as well-being and happiness, should also be considered in such large-scale data collection efforts.

Highlights

The speaker emphasizes the importance of reevaluating what we count in leadership and business, suggesting that what we count truly counts.

Introduction of Vivian, a maid whose emotional connection with others exemplifies finding joy in one's work beyond the task itself.

The founding of the company ZIV with the intention to create joy in life, reflecting the speaker's values.

The economic downturn post-9/11 and the impact on San Francisco Bay Area hotels, including the speaker's company.

The humorous anecdote of the company's name being mistaken for French and the resulting boycott threats.

The rediscovery of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a framework for understanding human needs in business.

The concept of the 'Transformation Pyramid' introduced as an extension of Maslow's hierarchy for organizations.

The realization of the lack of metrics for intangible aspects such as employee meaning and customer emotional connection.

The introduction of less obvious metrics to evaluate employee and customer satisfaction beyond traditional measures.

The positive outcomes of focusing on higher needs, including increased customer loyalty and reduced employee turnover.

The speaker's experience with other leaders who focus primarily on measurable, tangible outcomes.

A survey indicating that while 94% of business leaders value intangibles, only 5% measure them.

The journey to Bhutan and the exploration of an alternative to GDP: Gross National Happiness (GNH).

The description of Bhutan's approach to measuring and managing happiness through various indicators and metrics.

The concept of creating a 'habitat of happiness' rather than directly creating happiness itself.

The 'Emotional Equation' proposed by the speaker, focusing on gratitude and contentment with what one has.

The potential influence of Bhutan's GNH model on large neighboring countries like China and India.

The call to action for leaders to start valuing and measuring the intangible aspects of life and business.

The idea that business and political leaders should use metrics to account for people and their well-being.

The conclusion that inspired employees and sizable profits are not mutually exclusive and can coexist.

Transcripts

[Music]

[Applause]

and I'm going to talk about the simple

truth in leadership in the 21st century

in the 21st century we need to actually

look at and what I'm going to actually

encourage you to consider today is to go

back to our school days when we learned

how to count but I actually think it's

time for us to think about what we count

because what we actually count truly

counts let me start by telling you a

little story this is Van quash she came

to this country in 1986 from Vietnam she

changed her name to Vivien because she

wanted to fit in here in America her

first job was in an inner city motel in

San Francisco as a maid I actually

happened to buy that Motel about 3

months after Vivian started working

there so Vivian and I have actually been

working together for 23 years

with the youthful idealism of a

26-year-old in 1987 I started my company

and I called it ziv a very impractical

name and uh because I actually was

looking to create Joy of life and this

first hotel that I bought Motel was a

pay by the hour notel motel in the inner

city of San Francisco as I spent time

with Vivien I saw that she had sort of

aat of Eve in how she did her work made

me question and curious how could

someone actually find joy in actually

cleaning toilets for a living so I I

spent time with Vivian and I saw that

she didn't find joy in cleaning toilets

her job her goal and her calling was not

to become the world's greatest toilet

scrubber what counts for Vivian was the

emotional connection she created with

her fellow employees and our guests and

what gave her inspiration and meaning

was the fact that actually she was

taking care of people who are far away

from home because Vivian knew what it

was like to be far away from home

that very human lesson more than 20

years ago served me well during the last

uh economic downturn we had uh in the

wake of theom Crash and 911 San

Francisco Bay Area Hotels went through

the largest percentage Revenue drop in

the history of American hotels we were

the largest operator of hotels in the

Bay Area so we were particularly

vulnerable but also back then remember

we stopped eating french fries in this

country well not exactly of course not

um we actually started eating Freedom

fries and we actually started boycotting

anything that was French well my name of

my

company so I started getting these

letters from places like Alabama and

Orange County um saying to me that they

were going to boycott my company because

they thought we were a French company

and I'd write them back and i' say wait

a minute we're not French we're an

American company we're based in San

Francisco and I'd get a t response oh

that's

worse so one particular day when I was

feeling a little depressed and not a lot

of ziv I ended up in the local bookstore

around the corner from our offices and I

initially ended up in the business

section the bookstore looking for a

business solution but given my befuddled

state of mind I ended up in the

self-help section very quickly and

that's where I got reacquainted with

Abraham maso's hierarchy of needs I took

one psychology class in college and I

learned about this guy Abraham maslo as

many of us are familiar with his

hierarchy of needs but as I sat there

for 4 hours the full afternoon reading

maslo I actually recognize something

that is true of most leaders and one of

the simplest facts in business is

something that we often neglect and that

is that we're all human and each of us

no matter what our role is in business

actually has some hierarchy of needs in

the workplace so as I started reading

more maslo what I actually started to

realize is that actually maslo later in

his life wanted to take this hierarchy

for the individual and apply it to the

collective to organizations and and

specifically to business but

unfortunately he died prematurely in

1970 and so he wasn't really able to

live that dream completely so I realized

in that do crash that my role in life

was to channel Abe maslo and that's what

I did a few years ago when I actually

took that five level hierarchy of needs

pyramid and turn it into what I call the

transformation pyramid which is survival

success and transformation it's not just

fundamental in business it's fundamental

in life and we started actually asking

ourselves the questions about how we

were actually ing the higher needs these

transformational needs for our key

employees uh in the company these three

levels of the hierarchy needs actually

relate to the five levels of maso's

hierarchy of needs but as we started

asking ourselves about how we were

addressing the higher needs of our

employees and our customers I realized

we had no metrics we had nothing that

actually could tell us whether we were

actually getting it right so we actually

started asking ourselves what kind of

less obvious metrics could we use to

actually evaluate our employees sense of

meaning mean or our customer sense of

emotional connection with us for example

we actually started asking our employees

do they understand the mission of our

company and do they feel like they

believe in it can they actually

influence it and do they feel that their

work actually has an an impact on it we

start asking our customers did they feel

an emotional connection with us in one

of seven different kinds of ways

miraculously as we ask these questions

and start giving attention higher up the

pyramid what we found is we created more

loyalty our customer loyalty rocket our

our employee turnover dropped to one3 of

the industry average and during that

5year bust we tripled in size now as I

went out and started spending time with

other leaders out there and asking them

how they were getting through that time

what they told me over and over again

was that they just manage what they can

measure and what we can measure is that

tangible stuff at the bottom of the

pyramid they didn't actually even see

the intangible stuff higher up the

pyramid so I started asking myself the

question how can we get leaders to start

valuing the intangent if we're taught As

Leaders to just manage what we can

measure and all we can measure is the

tangible in life we're missing a whole

lot of things at the top of the

pyramid so I actually went out and

studied a bunch of things and I found a

survey that showed that

94% of Business Leaders worldwide

believe that the intangibles are

important in their business things like

intellectual property their corporate

culture their brand loyalty and yet only

5% of those same leaders actually had a

means of measuring the intangible in

their business so as leaders we

understand that intangibles are

important but we don't have a clue

actually how to measure them so here's

another Einstein quote not everything

that can be counted counts and not

everything that counts can be counted I

hate to argue with Einstein but if that

which is most valuable in our life and

our business actually can't be counted

or valued are we going to spend our

lives just mired and measuring the

mundane it was was that sort of heavy

question about what counts that led me

to take my CEO hat off for a week and

fly off to the Himalayan Peaks fled off

to a place that's been shrouded in

mystery for centuries a place some folks

called shangrala that's actually moved

from the survival base of the pyramid to

becoming a transformation role role

model for the world I went to Bhutan the

teenage king of Bhutan was also a

curious man but this was back in

1972 when he ascended to the throne two

days after his father passed away at age

17 he started asking the kind of

questions that you'd expect of someone

with a beginner's Mind on a Trip through

India early in his reign as as king he

actually was asked by an Indian

journalist about the bhes GDP the size

of the bhese GDP GDP and the King

responded in a fashion that actually has

transformed us four decades later he

said the following he said why are we so

obsessed and focused with gross domestic

product why don't we care most about

more about gross national happiness now

in essence the King was asking us to

consider an alternative definition of

success what's what has come to be known

as g& or gross national happiness most

world leaders didn't take notice and

those that did thought this was just

Buddhist

economics but the King was serious and

this was a notable moment because this

is the first time a world leader in

almost 200 years had suggested that that

in tangible of

happiness again that that leader 200

years ago Thomas Jefferson with the

Declaration of Independence 200 years

later this King was suggesting that

intangible of happiness is something we

should measure and it's something that

we should actually value as government

officials for the next three decades

next three three, years as king this

King actually started measuring and

managing around happiness in Bhutan and

including just recently taking his

country from being an absolute monarchy

to a constitutional monarchy with no

Bloodshed no coup and Bhutan for those

of you who don't know it is the newest

democracy in the world just two day two

years ago so as I spend time with

leaders in the g& movement um I got to

actually really understand what they

were doing and I got to spend some time

with the Prime Minister over dinner I

asked him an impertinent question I

asked him how can you how can you create

and measure something which evaporates

in other words happiness and he's a very

wise man and he said listen bhutan's

goal is not to create happiness we

create the conditions for happiness to

occur in other words we create a habitat

of Happiness wow that's interesting and

he said that they have a science behind

that art and they've actually created

four essential pillars nine key

indicators and 72 different metrics that

actually help them to actually measure

their g& in fact one of those one of

those key indicators is how do the Banes

feel about how they spend their time

each day it's a good question question

how do you feel about how you spend your

time each day time is one of the

scarcest resources in the modern world

and yet of course that little intangible

piece of data doesn't factor into our

GDP calculations so as I spent my week

up in the Himalayas actually started to

imagine what I call an emotional

equation and it focuses on something I

read long ago from a guy named Rabbi

Heyman shakel how many know him anybody

1954 he wrote a book called the real

enjoyment of living

and he suggested that happiness is not

about having what you want instead it's

about wanting what you have or in other

words I think the botines believe

happiness equals wanting what you have

imagine gratitude divided by having what

you want

gratification the botines aren't on some

aspirational treadmill constantly

focused on what they don't have uh their

religion their isolation their deep

respect for their culture and now the

principles of their g& movement all have

actually fostered a sense of gratit

gratitude about what they do have how

many of us here as tedsters in the

audience spend more of our time in the

bottom half of this equation in the

denominator we're we are a bottom heavy

culture in more ways than one

um the reality is in western western

countries quite often we do focus on the

pursuit of happiness as if happiness is

something that we have to go out an

object we're supposed to or maybe many

objects uh actually in fact if you look

in the dictionary many dictionaries

Define happy Define pursuit as to chase

with

hostility do we pursue happiness with

hostility good question but back to

Bhutan bhutan's actually bordered on its

North and South by 38% of the world's

population could this little country

like a startup in a mature industry be

the spark plug that actually influences

a 21st century of middle class in China

and India bhutan's actually created the

ultimate export a new Global Currency of

well-being and there are 40 countries

around the world today that are actually

studying their own g& you may have heard

uh this last fall Nicholas sarosi in

France announcing the results of an

18-month uh study by two Nobel

economists focusing on happiness and

wellness in France sarosi suggested that

world leaders should stop myopically

Focus fusing on GDP and consider a new

index what some French are calling aiv

index I like it co-branding

opportunities and just three days ago

three days ago here at Ted we actually

had a simal cast of David Cameron

potentially the next prime minister of

the UK actually quoting one of my

favorite speeches of all time Robert

Kennedy's poetic speech from 1968 when

he suggested that we're myopically

focused on the wrong thing and that GDP

is a misplaced metric

so it suggests that the momentum is

Shifting I've taken that Robert Kennedy

quote and actually turned it into a new

balance sheet for just a moment here

this is actually a collection of things

that Robert Kennedy said in that quote

GDP counts everything from air pollution

to the destruction of our redwoods but

it actually doesn't count the health of

our children or the Integrity of our

public officials as you look at these

two columns here doesn't it make you

feel like it's time for us to actually

start figuring out a new way to count a

new way to actually imagine uh what's

important to us in

life certainly Robert Kennedy suggested

at the end of the speech exactly that he

said GDP measures everything in short

except that which makes life

worthwhile wow so how do we do that well

let me say one thing we could just start

doing 10 years from now at least in this

country why in the heck in America are

we doing a census in 2010 we're spending

10 billion on a census and we're asking

10 simple question it is Simplicity but

all of those questions are tangible

they're about demographics they're about

where you live how many people you live

with and whether you own your home or

not that's about it we're not asking

meaningful metrics we're not asking

important questions we're not asking

anything that's intangible Abe maslo

said long ago something you've heard

before but you didn't realize it was him

he said if the only tool you have is a

hammer everything starts to look like a

nail we've been fooled by our

tool um excuse that expression

um we've been fooled by our tool GDP has

been our

hammer and our nail has been a 19th and

20th Century industrial era model of

success and yet

64% of the world's GDP today is in that

intangible industry we call service the

service industry the industry I'm in and

only 36% is in the tangible industries

of manufacturing and agriculture so

maybe it's time that we get a bigger

toolbox right maybe it's time we

actually get a toolbox that doesn't just

count what's easily counted the tangible

in life but actually counts what we most

value uh the things that are intangible

I guess I'm sort of a curious CEO I was

also a curious economics major as an

undergrad and I learned that economists

measure everything in tangible units of

production and consumption as if each of

those tangible units is exactly the same

they aren't the same in fact as Leaders

what we need to learn is that we can

actually influence the quality of that

unit of production by actually creating

the conditions for our employees to live

their calling and in fact in Vivian's

case her unit of production isn't the

tangible hour she works it's the

intangible difference she makes during

that one hour of work this is Dave

arringdale who's actually been a

longtime guest at Vivian's Motel he

stayed there a hundred times in the last

20 years years and he's loyal to the

property because of the relationship

that Vivian and her fellow employees

have created with him they've created a

habitat of happiness for Dave and he

tells me that he can always count on

viven and his staff and the staff there

to make him feel at

home why is it that Business Leaders and

investors quite often don't see the

connection between creating the

intangible of employee happiness with

creating the tangible of financial

profits in their business we don't have

to choose between inspired employees and

sizable profits we can have both and in

fact inspired employees quite often help

make sizable profits right so what the

world needs now in my opinion is

Business Leaders and political leaders

who know what to

count we count numbers we count on

people what really counts is when we

actually use our numbers to truly take

into account our people I learned that

from a maid in a motel and a king of a

country what can you start counting

today what one thing can you start

counting today that actually would be

meaningful in your life whether it's

your work life or your business life

thank you very

much