It comes down to four words: Vivian, Maslow, Peak, Bhutan. At first glance, they may seem arbitrary, but for a California entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, and best-selling author, these words signify a thread of experiences on which a career was crafted and a calling created.

Meet Chip Conley, CEO and founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, author of the business best-seller PEAK, and newly minted speaker at TED Talks 2010. Fresh out of Stanford Business School in 1987 Conley wanted to put his knowledge and newly acquired skills to the test. Instead of following the corporate path of many of his peers, he chose to begin what would turn out to be a career as the front man of America’s second largest boutique hotel chain. But the road was not always about acquisition, nor was it easy.

Enter Vivian. In 1987 Conley met Vivian in an inner-city motel in San Francisco where she was working as a maid. At 26 years old, he bought that motel, which marked the beginning of his new boutique-hotel enterprise, Joie de Vivre. Vivian helped him to understand the difference between a job and a calling. Her calling wasn’t to become the world’s best toilet scrubber. What gives her inspiration and meaning is knowing that she’s taking care of people when they’re traveling on the road far away from home.

That lesson about callings served Conley well until about eight and a half years ago when he almost went broke. As the largest operator of hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area in the wake of the dot-com bust and 9/11, Bay Area hotels experienced the biggest percentage revenue drop since World War II. On a day when Conley was lacking “joie de vivre,” he dropped into a local bookstore looking for a business solution. Given his befuddled state of mind, he quickly ended up in the self-help section of the store. Enter Abraham Maslow whose enlightenment books and Hierarchy of Needs theory Conley spent studying the rest of the afternoon.

Over the next year, Conley became a bit of a Maslow junkie. Conley was able to obtain Maslow’s private journals from the last ten years of his life and found that in his later years he focused his iconic Hierarchy of Needs pyramid more on organizations–or the collective–as opposed to just the individual. Conley learned that Maslow believed that he could make a bigger difference in the world this way.

During that dot-com crash, curiosity led Conley to reinterpreting Maslow’s five-level Hierarchy of Needs into three key themes which he calls the Transformation Pyramid and which forms the basis of Conley’s book, PEAK: How Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow. Conley wanted to help companies use the principles from Maslow and form a guide on how to build a culture of enduring success and one that could thrive in both the “worst” and “best” of times. Conley started applying these themes to his key stakeholders such as his employees, customers and investors. He started measuring intangible qualities such as his employees’ sense of meaning and customers’ sense of whether they felt an emotional connection with Joie de Vivre.

It became clearer to him that leaders tend to get overly focused on survival at the bottom of the pyramid–especially in a downturn–because it’s tangible and measurable, but quite often to the detriment of paying attention to higher needs further up the pyramid that tend to be intangible. “Since leaders typically manage what they can measure, most of us end up stuck at the bottom of this pyramid,” explained Conley. But it is in the top part of the pyramid, the emotional experience of business and relationships, where we need to spend far more of our time and focus–especially in economic times that put mounting pressure on our emotions and spirit.

In 2008 Conley traveled to Bhutan where he spent two months studying a culture that values the intangible. In the spirit of the Gross National Happiness Index (GNH) former King of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuck started asking more pertinent questions like why do some of the “goods” we create that define GDP actually turn out to be “bads” for society. He suggested that the ultimate public good is happiness. Over the course of his three-dozen years as the King–based upon the principles of GNH–he started remaking how his country operated including voluntarily turning his country from an absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. No bloodshed, no coups, just a peaceful transition to become the world’s newest democracy less than two years ago.

In summer 2009, TED Talk leader Chris Anderson called upon Conley to speak about his discoveries in Bhutan. Titled “What the World Needs Now” the TED talks are drawing attention to those key principles and pedagogical models that can help the world become a more enlightened place with better values. Clearly the world needs different standards that are going to not only give us economic profit, but in the model of Bhutan, enduring spiritual fulfillment. Few can aptly articulate and speak to this as can Conley. Perhaps it is time for us to borrow from the lessons of other successful countries and communities to find out what works well for them and apply those principles to our own structures.

While Conley might have cultivated a resume of achievement, one thing he’ll never forget is where he came from and what it took for him to get from where he was 24 years ago upon the purchase of his first hotel to leading talks at one of the most coveted speaker series in the world. For Conley, it took a vision, a desire to do things differently, and to follow his own heart towards creating his own calling.

While we might not all be on the path of entrepreneur, best-selling author, and acclaimed speaker, we can all have a vision, a dream, and a higher standard. Sometimes it can come in the form of meeting a “Vivian” or finding your version of “Maslow.” But whatever it is, be open to it and look for it because it will inevitably come, and as Conley asserts, it will mostly likely arrive in the form of not a tangible good, but an intangible feeling that will move you to follow your dreams and create a calling of your own.

Inspiration is that rare moment when optimism meets opportunity. This revelation is unique to each individual, but there are some cases, extraordinary in themselves, when inspiration is a collective vision. One of these visions is fostered in a bright New Jersey classroom.

In that classroom is Mr. Hank Bitten, supervisor of the History Department at Indian Hills High School. Mr. Bitten is one of those memorable teachers, always equipped with jokes and words of encouragement. Truly a motivation to students and fellow faculty, the history teacher also heads the International Studies and Business University Program, a specialized high-school curriculum program in a public school for students who earn admission. He mentors students throughout their high-school careers, advising them to pursue their passions through extracurricular activities, and always advocating higher education. There is power in this mentorship.

Mr. Bitten attributes his own love for teaching to a teacher he had himself while in high school. “In my junior and senior year, I had Mr. Ravo. He had a great sense of humor; he was inspirational,” he says, reminiscing. And so the cycle continues. Teachers are in opportune positions to encourage students to pursue higher education and to follow their hearts. “It’s all about motivation,” he says.

Teachers like Mr. Bitten take the time not only to teach, but to support students with their passions, helping the next generation to be more enthused about what they can do for themselves and the world. “The majority of my students are doing things that don’t really pay a lot of money, but really have a big impact on how we look at the environment or how we help people in poverty, and, of course, that’s a great feeling for a teacher to know that kids are in pivotal places following their dreams.”

Following your dreams–that’s what living is all about. With encouragement comes passion and with passion the pursuit of one’s dreams. With such nurturing teachers, the road to personal success gets a little less bumpy, and students learn that they have the power to take the road less travelled.

A vegan, six-time college dropout, and a $1.00 yearly salary—sound like the stats of the CEO and founder of the nation’s largest organic grocery chain? John P. Mackey, CEO of Whole foods, founded the company in the late 1970’s out of the garage of his Austin, Texas home. The company now boasts 279 international locations and recently became the United State’s first national certified organic grocer.

But as they say, behind every great man is a great woman, and John Mackey is no exception. Today, Mackey is more equated with his outspoken nature and plans to revolutionize business and the American economy. One would find it hard to believe that the seeds for this change organically grew from Mackey’s simple desire to “meet interesting women.”

A true unconventionalist–in a Pre-Match.com era–24-year-old Mackey felt moving into a vegetarian co-op would be the most effective way to achieve his goal. Using this strategic planning, he not only found a girlfriend in Renee Lawson Hardy, but a business partner and a new vegan lifestyle.

When asked about his humble start Mackey said, "I was 24 years old. I started out wanting to have a company that had good healthy food and to earn a living. Did I start out wanting to change the world or change people? Of course not, it would take a total megalomaniac to do that."

Change, nonetheless, was what he accomplished with Whole foods, the first grocery chain to institute standards for the humane treatment of animals and garner third place on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of Top 25 Green Power Partners.

Transforming the way a nation eats was not enough for Mackey. He set his sights on the American business model as the latest target for change. Having studied the works of free-market capitalism thought-leaders Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand in his younger years, Mackey developed a passion for Conscious Capitalism.

With Conscious Capitalism, businesses aim to reach a deeper societal purpose, as opposed merely to chasing maximum profits. Mackey explains that if companies aspire to achieve higher value goals, such as motivated employees, happy customers, top-quality products, and a reason for existence (beyond monetary gains), they will see a more profitable bottom line.

It is a common misconception that Conscious Capitalism encourages businesses to become not-for-profit. In fact, a successful and lucrative company can still be motivated and guided by a higher purpose. According to Mackey, a company can achieve a deeper meaning by pursuing one of four values, which he has admittedly borrowed partially from Plato: the good, the true, the beautiful, or the heroic.
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Whole Foods has been in pursuit of the good and the heroic, ideals of which Mackey is at the forefront. In 2006 he reduced his personal salary to $1 a year, donated his stock portfolio to charity, set up salary caps for executive employees, and stopped all company purchasing of farm-factory meats. The company serves as an example of ethical business practices, and Mackey’s personal consciously capitalistic standards have inspired voluntary cooperation from stakeholders in his company.

Mackey feels so strongly about the benefits of this business paradigm that he has become a self-nominated spokesperson for Conscious Capitalism, founding a Catalyzing Conscious Capitalism Summit and The Conscious Capitalism Alliance. Mackey has even written an educational audio-series for business owners aspiring to practice Conscious Capitalism and has toured the country speaking to universities about his formula for change.

Whether Conscious Capitalism ever becomes the business norm still remains to be seen. Mackey, the eternal optimist, however, is content with what he has accomplished with Whole Foods. He has been quoted saying, "If I get run over by a truck later today, I will have already in my life made a difference in helping many people, customers are better off because millions of people are eating in a way they never would have had we never existed. Our team members are better off because we've created a company that's a great place to work. Our suppliers have flourished along with Whole Foods and have made a lot of money from their association with us. And our investors have made a ton of money."

All the while Whole Foods remains an organic retail giant, and if Mackey has any say, the company will remain an example of how a passion-driven business can revolutionize the social and cultural standards of the food industry and achieve immense financial success, without compromise.

The large orange “Yes” hanging on the wall of La Grande Orange café in Santa Monica, California is an apt representation of their effort to serve happiness along with fresh culinary creations. Zen is one of the restaurant’s main ingredients.

Manager Araceli Hernandez shares that when it comes to service, they aim to “always make everyone feel welcome and accommodated.” She indicated the simple, yet upbeat poster on the wall: “We always try to say yes to whatever we possibly can.”

She feels that one of the best assets of the eatery is its laid-back environment and its ability to function as both a day and evening establishment. “It’s by the beach,” she comments. “All the employees are very friendly and seem happy to be here. You don’t necessarily find that type of atmosphere in any other place at all times.”

If others want to create a successful, positive environment, she recommends that “you just always want to remember [the importance of your] mentality when you come walking in the door. If you’re very positive and energetic, that’s the vibe you’ll give to your employees. You want to treat them the way you want them to treat the guests.”

The personal touch is elemental. It’s refreshing to find a restaurant where your servers savor the items on the menu, and when the timing is right, they are willing to talk about more than just the food. When one of the waitresses heard that I was a writer, she became excited, explaining that she also aspired to write. Another even suggested an inspirational novel that might interest me after listening to my literary aspirations.

They stress the upbeat and genuine, and just as their menu offers a refreshing variety from fish to pancakes, the bottom of their online menu provides the saying, “The customer is usually right… Orange is the new black… If you say, ‘I love you,’ mean it.”

This one restaurant embodies the core elements of life: Fresh, healthy food; saying “YES” to opportunities; treating your customers as family; and being passionate. The sweetness of this eatery isn’t found merely in the muffins and cookies; it’s in their people and outlook on life.

We’ve all procrastinated before, having known about a test for weeks, but the exam is tomorrow and you’ve still yet to crack open the text. Between work, classes, and other activities, studying at times gets relegated to the backburner. Employing a few simple techniques can improve your study habits and test scores.

The key to effective studying is time management. Make sure you have a list of all your tests and plan for them accordingly by entering them in your calendar. Performing well on tests is a matter of preparation. It is important to take a week before each exam and dedicate one hour a day to studying the material. Then, the day before the test, give yourself a version of the test you will take. Putting yourself in a test-like environment will allow you to acclimate to the time constraints of the test and the need to recall your knowledge and provide cogent answers; however, excelling in school is about more than merely performing well on tests. Follow these additional steps and you will succeed in all of your subjects.  

1)      Review the material as you learn it. The more you review the more likely the information will become part of your long-term memory. 

2)      Make study guides and flashcards that are easy for you to understand. Translate the information dictated by your teacher into the context of your own vocabulary.

3)      Change your study environment: figure out where you concentrate best.

4)      Study with friends. Discussing the material can help with your comprehension of the material.

5)      Ask for help: your teachers are there for you. If you are at home and need help, e-mail them or reach out to a friend. And don’t forget about office hours. This is a great time to brush up on your knowledge and get insight into the exam material.

6)      Don’t forget to take breaks. Taking a walk or listening to calming music can help you refresh and regain your focus.

7)      Carve out an hour each day for three days leading up to the test to allocate towards preparation. Create a mock test to take the day before the test to get in the habit of applying your knowledge in an exam-like format with time constraints. The more closely you can replicate the test environment before taking the test, the better chances you will have in excelling.

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you can’t understand its history in a day either. Plan ahead and you’ll not only know the information for your test, but for years to come.

Every day our lives are enriched by others. We are not in this world alone, and by connecting with our neighbor, we increase both ours and their opportunity for peace and fulfillment. The support of a friend is invaluable, and kindness from a stranger may completely change our day. Religion offers many of these needed opportunities for connection, promoting themes of family and community.

According to Pastor Steve Bunyard, everyone has a religion. The Outreach Pastor of Rolling Hills Covenant in Palos Verdes, CA contends that “religion is a set of beliefs that people possess through which they look at the world around them and decide how they’re going to live their lives, what is of value [and] what’s right, what’s wrong.” Even if a person does not associate themselves with an organized religious sect or deity, they have certain ideas they put their trust and faith into which dictate their thoughts and behavior: this is their religion.

The majority of religion provides an opportunity to find community, whether within an organized faith or simply a group of people with common ideas. On one level, religion can satisfy our basic needs: “we all want to be loved in our life… to feel that our life has purpose, that there is a meaning to what we are doing. We all have a fear of the future [and] we are all to some extent afraid of dying,” says Steve. Coming together in a community gives us a way to “overcome that apprehension [and] tension in our lives.” We can connect with people, or even with an idea, giving us comfort through hardships, validation for our beliefs, and answers for our inquiries. Christianity, for example, stresses the value of community, spreading good through Church and family.

Steve notes that Church is more than the usual building where one worships, explaining how “God defines Church as everyone on this earth that has turned to him asking forgiveness, who put their trust in his son Jesus Christ… We break it up into denominations and to all these different things.” Many people look at the organized aspects of a religion and are deterred, just as Steve once was at the thought of being obligated to read the Bible or attend Church. However, once he found truth and genuine faith in his beliefs, his view of Church changed: “I don’t go there because I have to… I don’t go there to try to earn God’s favor; he bestows that upon me as a gift. The great thing about Church is to go there and join in the family of faith.”

Organized religions are at times associated with scandal or extremism, and while Steve admits “a lot of religions deserve that,” he concludes that churches are a place to not just say “we love people” but to show that love for others in a multitude of ways. He cites the numerous Christian groups helping people in crisis, whether it is those suffering from Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, or general hardships in their lives. “Religion ought to be the cause of great good in the world,” Steve remarks. The flaws within organized religion lie within the people, not the religion itself. Whether we’re clergy, doctors, or plumbers, “we’re all creatures that fall short.” When church leaders or churches don’t behave as they should, Steve encourages that people “don’t blame God for that. That’s not on Him. That’s on them–the people.” Overall church and religion remain a source of community, love, and personal growth.

In a world filled with confusion and negative news, family is one of our most powerful sources of support, connection, and most importantly, love. Many organized religions emphasize respect for family and embrace the powerful care and guidance in the relationship between parent and child. Coming together in a community allows us to not only grow to love others; we may also share our beliefs and quest for our true purpose. “Jesus always talks about love being such a high value,” Steve points out, “[It is important] to instill that not only in yourself and your family, but for your family to love other families. In God’s eyes, it’s just the family of man, we kind of divide it in all sorts of ways… The Bible places a big emphasis on family; we’re called into a surrogate family.”

Just as parents guide us through caring words and actions, religion can help us navigate life through scripture, prayer, and very powerfully, love. Our search for comfort and truth leads us to our beliefs, allowing us to share our faith with others while growing in our own thanks to the support of those who love us, whether on a spiritual or interpersonal level.

What does it take to build a $200 billion company?

Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy knows, and discusses some of what it takes in a recent farewell note to Sun Employees.

Humbly self-described as, "A husband, father of four, and a builder and leader of people who want to make a difference," McNealy is also the king of alternative computer technology who led Sun to the elite Fortune 200 throne.

This feat certainly didn't take one attempt. McNealy applied to Stanford Business School three times before the school finally accepted him. A Master's in Business Administration (MBA), granted from Stanford in 1980, was the harbinger to Sun's founding in 1982 (whose name is derived from the initials of Stanford University Network).

Try, and try again. And then keep trying for 28 years.

Dispassion won't do either, as McNealy scribed in farewell, "I truly loved starting, running, and living Sun." Loving his company was a start, and having fun in the process was another “McNealy-ism” in the quest for success. As proud Sun employees well know, McNealy closed many messages with his motto, “kick butt and have fun."

Yet in addition to humility, perseverance and passion, uber-success also requires agility–willingness to make the best of the undesired. On the Oracle acquisition of his company, McNealy reminded Sun employees (more than 30,000 world wide), "While it was never the primary vision to be acquired by Oracle... Let's embrace it with all of the enthusiasm and class and talent we have to offer."

There are more specific bullets on "what it takes" to build a Fortune 200 company in the technology industry. A new Silicon Valley CEO, who calls McNealy mentor, tells his employees that, "Innovation, people and execution," are the keys. But most important to any conquest, it all begins with a vision, followed by the guts to do more than dream, to take on life's greatest risks, and in so doing climb atop the throne of few.

-By contributing author Teah Strandjord