I’m reading some stuff in preparation for a course my wife and I are taking, and a section in this particular article reached out to me:

A knowledge of human nature is the key to leadership. There are four basic instincts which all humans have:

1. Survival, security and a sense of personal control. A sense of self.
2. A desire for relationships, connectedness, social mobility. A sense of being connected.
3. Adventure, excitement. A sense of challenge.
4. To gain meaning, to know self, truth and God. A sense of belonging to something bigger

When I read that I immediately thought: How does JibberJobber address any of these?

More important, to influence human nature, does my product (specifically, JibberJobber) touch on any of these?  Would addressing any of these instincts impact the success of my product?  Could I use any language (or concepts) from these instincts in my marketing material?

All valid questions for a business owner, entrepreneur or marketing manager.  And perhaps even for a job seeker.

Here are some immediate thoughts on each of the four, and my product:

1. … a sense of personal control.  Job seekers LOSE this sense of personal control when they lose their job, which causes a loss in income, stability, self-worth, identity, and more.

JibberJobber SHOULD help them regain some sense of personal control.  They might not be able to control how a hiring manager, company or recruiter acts, but they can log it and feel they are “on top of” their search.

2. … a sense of being connected.  Right now JibberJobber isn’t very social, but things might change in that area… 🙂  Would the changes help job seekers (and non-job seeker users) NEED JibberJobber more?

3. … excitement. A sense of challenge.  Like job seekers or entrepreneurs need more challenge… right!  How can JibberJobber give them a sense of challenge?  Maybe by offering challenging daily tasks to the users?  Like “Call three people today,” and of course log it in the system, so it is measurable.  Perhaps this can be summed up weekly, monthly, etc. to show the accomplishments.

4. ….A sense of belonging to something bigger.  If JibberJobber’s mission and vision is to change the world by empowering people in their careers, and helping people through inevitable transitions, and change how people think about these transitions… can my users participate in this movement?  If so, they can have ownership in this bigger picture.  It’s not just about their current transition, it’s about helping people suffer less because of the way “jobs” and “careers” have changed.

Fun to think about… now time to get to work on communicating this in the right places (which is much more than on flyers, business cards, email signatures, etc.).  This has to become a part of the product.