"What's in it for me (WIIFM)?"--Theme song of education and business

"What's in it for me (WIIFM)?" is a theme of adult learning that also permeates K-12 education, business-to-business relationships, and business-to-consumer (and consumer-to-business) relationships.

Educators need to address the WIIFM concerns to get students ready to learn.  Business-to-business (B2B) sales must address those concerns as must business-to-consumer (B2C) sales.  President Obama faces these concerns in issues over health care (and everything else he is proposing.)  Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives must address those issues for themselves and for their constituents (voters) in the votes they take "on the hill."

Is that so bad?  Abraham Maslow documented his "hierarchy of needs" (see slide 5) and talked about moving from survival to belonging to recognition to self-esteem to self-actualization.  WIIFM deals with levels one through four on this hierarchy.  Self-actualized people are seen as more altruistic--looking to add value to others.  We certainly need more people operating at these higher levels when the lower levels are met.

At the same time, when we want others to to connect with us or to become involved with us, we need to address the WIIFM concerns so that our target audience will find reasons to engage with us.  Our messages need to take these concerns into account.