Is the famous Maslow pyramid supposed to be flipped?
Raise your hand if you’ve seen this picture on a slide deck:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Source)
The thing is, there’s more context to the hierarchy.
Yep. Unpublished papers of Maslow’s (and several scholars*) suggest his famous hierarchy of needs was actually based on the Siksika (Blackfoot) way of life.
*In fact, members of the Blackfoot Nation, received a grant from the Canadian Government’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to research Blackfoot influences on Maslow.
Here’s the punchline: MASLOW FLIPPED THE PYRAMID.
In the Blackfoot way of life, Self-Actualization is the base. They believe a sense of belonging and living as the full embodiment of all that you are is the FOUNDATION of a thriving society, NOT the reward you get when you reach the top of the pyramid.
Here’s a quote to help frame this picture:
“In Blackfoot culture, ‘it’s like you’re credentialed at the start. You’re treated with dignity for that reason, but you spend your life living up to that.’ While Maslow saw self-actualization as something to earn, the Blackfoot see it as innate.” Source
HOW WOULD OUR NATION'S SOCIAL SERVICE INDUSTRY SHIFT IF EVERYONE WAS THOUGHT TO BE "CREDENTIALED FROM THE START?”
No offense to Maslow...
but his unpublished manuscripts suggest he spent just six weeks with the Blackfoot nation. In his publications about Hierarchy of Needs, he flipped a key component of their culture and therefore our culture’s broader understanding of self-actualization.
What can we learn from this?
Even well-regarded models that get a lot of publicity have context, and the context/perspective of who develops models matters A LOT. Systems leaders have a responsibility to look into the context of what they’re implementing before scaling models (even those that appear highly evidence based).
This flipped pyramid example highlights the need to be super careful about observing lived experts for a short-time, and believing we understand the true essence of what they’re doing, their reasoning for what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it. In other words, watching an expert talk about their work doesn't make you an expert on that work. Refer back to the source!
ATTENTION LEADERS & ADMINISTRATORS:
If you could use practical wisdom to help to make sure you don’t do something silly (like flip a pyramid that becomes gospel, which serves as the basis of how we allocate billions of dollars in resources) CHECK OUT OUR NETWORK OF LIVED EXPERTS.
Shout out to Chase Moyer for the beautiful cover photo, which can be found on Unsplash here. Attribution is important.
