Deep down I always knew that business could be done differently. I founded and grew my company, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, with this rebellious spirit. But it wasn't until I was rocked to my foundation with a desperate economic downturn that I was truly able to see the power of my principles.

Celebrated restaurateur Danny Meyer told me he wrote his book Setting the Table because it helped him move from the intuitive to the intentional in how he ran the Union Square Hospitality Group. Brazilian CEO Ricardo Semlar has said he wrote his books The Seven-Day Weekend and Maverick to address one of his director's questions about whether what works in practice for their company could also work in theory. I decided to write Peak because it allowed me to combine three of my greatest interests: writing, psychology, and business. Writing this book required me to reconcile how Joie de Vivre has successfully interpreted one of the most famous theories of human motivation into how we do business. But my learning was most profound when I discovered dozens of other peak-performing companies that have also consciously and unconsciously relied on Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It wasn't just my little company that was fond of Abe's pyramid. Yet, taking all of this learning and turning it into a book was quite a task. Thankfully, at a very young age, I knew I wanted to be a writer when I grew up, so all the time spent researching and writing just helped connect me back to a lifelong aspiration. I guess that means I'm now grown up.

This book is about the miracle of human potential: employees living up to their full potential in the workplace, customers feeling the potential bliss associated with having their unrecognized needs met, and investors feeling fulfilled by seeing the potential of their capital leveraged. Celebrated author Fred Reichheld says, “The fundamental job of a leader is to be a role model, an exemplary partner whose primary goal is to help people grow to their fullest human potential.”¹ Great leaders know how to tap into potential and actualize it into reality. My hope is that whether you are a start-up entrepreneur or in management at a Fortune 500 company, you will be able to use the theory in this book to maximize your own potential as well as the potential of those around you. Don't get discouraged if this theory feels a little foreign. At Joie de Vivre, we weren't perfect, either. I can't say we acted on this theory every day in every one of our more than 40 businesses, but the process of educating everyone in the company about these principles made a big difference in our lives.

I might have called this book How I Survived the Great Depression and Created a Great Company and Great Relationships Along the Way, but I don't think my publisher could have fit that on the cover. It seems trite to say that companies are just communities of relationships. But common sense suggests, and empirical studies show, those organizations that create deeper loyalty—with employees, customers, and investors—experience more sustained success. In this age of commoditization, one of the truly differentiating characteristics of leaders and companies is the quality and durability of the relationships they create. Peak (a much more succinct title) will help you create peak experiences with those you work with so that these flourishing relationships will help you sustain peak performance.