Jianfa Tsai’s Input
ELI5: The Maslow pyramids; how to practically apply it? Krogerus, M., & Tschappeler, R. (2023). The decision book: Fifty models for strategic thinking (New ed.). Profile Books.
ELI5 Explained
Imagine your brain has a shopping list of five things it needs to feel completely happy and safe. At the very bottom of the list are emergency things like food and water, because you cannot focus on anything else if your belly is empty. Once you have food, you look for a safe house, then for friends to love, then for people to say “good job” to you, and finally, at the very top, you try to become the ultimate superhero version of yourself. A clever book by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler shows us that we can use this pyramid like a map to understand what we, or the people we work with, need right now so we can make better choices and help everyone succeed.
Most Important Point
Strategic thinking requires identifying which layer of the psychological pyramid an individual or group currently occupies before attempting to motivate them or make critical decisions.
Date
Saturday, June 6, 2026 at 7:12 PM AEST
Authors
Jianfa Tsai (https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1809-1686) in collaboration with Gemini AI Pro.
Practical Application for Personal, Academic, and Work Life
- Personal Life: Evaluate your current sources of stress against the model; if your financial stability (safety needs) is compromised, deliberately pause your expectations for creative milestones (self-actualisation) until the foundational layer is secured.
- Academic Life: Optimise study conditions by ensuring basic physiological needs (adequate sleep and nutrition) are satisfied before attempting complex cognitive tasks, as higher-level processing is structurally hindered by baseline deficits.
- Work Life: Diagnose team dynamics during project management by assessing whether team members feel secure in their roles (safety) and valued by peers (esteem) before demanding high-level innovation or strategic autonomy.
References
Krogerus, M., & Tschäppeler, R. (2023). The decision book: Fifty models for strategic thinking (New ed.). Profile Books.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346