A need is a vital necessity for a person (whether moral or physical). It constitutes the essence of their well-being and good health.
As John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!” So, ask yourself: what does the world need? Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (illustrated below) allows us to distinguish three main categories of needs:

• The first category consists of basic needs for living, such as eating, sleeping, and shelter.
• Then, there are psychological needs for love and learning, such as self-esteem and belonging.
• Finally, there are achievement needs for inspiration, such as personal fulfillment, human potential, and transcendence.

This order of priority for needs may vary depending on the person and the stages of their life. Although Frederick Herzberg criticized this pyramid, he agrees that the need for self-actualization is the most determining factor for job satisfaction.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs remains a commonly used scientific foundation and can serve as a basis for analysis here. So, ask yourself: how can you contribute to meeting the needs of the world?
Moreover, it is important to understand that a need is different from a desire.

In reality, what the world desires is not always essential to its well-being. The world is you, me, and everyone else. It is therefore a community of individuals living within society’s systems and in an ever-changing environment. Each of these individuals has fundamental needs to live (eating, sleeping, exercising, having leisure time); to learn (understanding, communicating, finding a higher purpose); and to have emotions (being loved, belonging, feeling valued).

However, some of these needs may be hidden or unexpressed (for various reasons), as human purposes are deep waters. Yet, a wise person is capable of drawing from them to meet the world’s latent needs. For example, Melanie Perkins, co-founder of Canva, created this graphic design platform because she noticed the difficulty users faced in learning and using programs like InDesign and Photoshop. She thus envisioned a collaborative and simple solution to meet this need.

Similarly, Facebook revolutionized communication by addressing a latent need: having a useful social network for millions of individuals.
Therefore, it is essential to conduct a thorough analysis to discover the types of needs the world has, both expressed and latent (projects or deeply hidden needs).

It is also important to understand the needs you can address by using your talents, personality, and resources in alignment with your vision. Additionally, it is possible to detect expressed needs by observing social media comments, studying the market, etc.

However, to properly detect these latent needs, a well-thought-out strategy is necessary to adequately meet the needs while sparking innovations in products (GPS, etc.) or processes and services (robotics, etc.). To achieve this, you need to get closer to your potential targets and give them the opportunity to share their experiences.

You can do this by conducting a suitable survey and/or exploring their environment and daily routine. Use open-ended questions like those presented in the table below and carefully analyze the responses.

Remember that a real need drives a person to seek a solution, but if it is poorly expressed, it can lead to a poor solution. The activity of defining the I.P.T. indicator is therefore very timely. Your gifts and talents, combined with your mission, constitute a powerful weapon to guide you toward your destiny.

To shine brightly, it is important to be well-positioned in your lane (your sphere of influence) within society and the scope of your actions. It is also essential to know your target audience, that is, the recipients of your actions, in order to properly meet their needs…

This text is an excerpt from the book DESTINED TO SHINE written by Nadia KPONDJO.

We invite you to read the following article “FUNDAMENTAL VALUES”.