What’s LOVE got to do with Business? Everything!

In Love and Profit, James Autry acknowledges that love is seldom associated with leadership, but…

Good management is largely a matter of love, or if you are uncomfortable with that word, call it caring because proper management involves caring for people, not manipulating them. 

Peter Senge, M.I.T. professor and author of bestselling books like The Fifth Discipline, defined love in a business context as…

A genuine concern for the growth and well-being of those you serve. 

Merging Autry’s and Senge’s perspectives on love (care, genuine concern, growth, well-being) – business success depends on our willingness to love team members and customers.

To put leadership love into action, let’s start with guidance from philosopher Paul Tillich, who suggested,

The first duty of love is to listen. 

When my team consulted for Mercedes-Benz, we positioned listening as the first in a four-step process we referred to as L.E.A.D. (which stands for Listen, Empathize, Add value, and Delight).

So, let’s look at how you can L.E.A.D. love in your life and business.

Listen – Love requires us to actively listen with our ears and attentively listen (observe) with our eyes.  Active listening skills like “parroting,” “restating,” and “paraphrasing” are foundational to understanding colleagues and customers.

Empathize – While listening fosters understanding, empathizing drives connection. Empathy comes from the German word – Einfühlung (which roughly translates to “feeling into”). To demonstrate empathy, an emotional intelligence skill, we must be willing to hypothesize about, acknowledge, and connect with the feelings of others.

Add value – Love is truly a verb, and to add value actively, we can do something for someone, be with them, help them do something for themself, simply offer hope, or affirm their importance is.

Delight – Delight is an emotional reaction that emerges when expectations are kindly exceeded. People are delighted when they feel understood, valued, and appreciated beyond expectation.

Do you accept the need for LOVE and BUSINESS?  If so, are you willing, ready, and able to L.E.A.D. colleague and customer love? 

Written by Joseph Michelli, Ph.D.

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