Tweet

Leadership: What's Love Got to Do With It?

Guest post by: Lisa McLeod

Article Overview: Lisa Earle McLeod - Inspirational humorist- www.ForgetPerfect.com A top-selling author and syndicated columnist, Lisa's first book "Forget Perfect" sparked a national movement. Her newest book, "Finding Grace When You Can't Even Find Clean Underwear" prompted Erma Bombeck's daughter Betsy to say, "Lisa McLeod is channeling my mother."

Leadership: What's Love Got to Do With It?

We want our customers to love us.

We want our employees to love their jobs.

Yet if you bring up the L word in the context of leadership, people get uncomfortable.

They envision an afternoon of holding hands around the company campfire with the staff swaying to the strains of "kumbaya" as the HR Director strums out the chorus on his folk guitar.

But contrary to what skeptics might like to think, bringing love into the workplace doesn't mean group hugs and trust falls.

Love is one of the most effective and efficient business strategies that ever existed. And infusing love into an organization delivers a better ROI than any other single investment you can make.

Our hesitancy to acknowledge love as an essential element of leadership is particularly ironic when you consider the plethora of books, tapes, seminars and consultants out there giving pointers on how to harness passion at work.

One need look no further than the extensive research behind the mega-bestsellers Good to Great, How Full Is Your Bucket and Vital Friends to find clear evidence that the leaders who proactively put love into their work are significantly more successful than those who don't. When you show up with your heart, your mind works at a much great capacity than it does on the days when you leave your heart at home.

The truth is, love has been the cornerstone of every successful venture since the dawn of time. From the American Revolution to Apple Computer, the great ones are always fueled by love -- by people who love what they do and who love the people they do it with.

Our reluctance to embrace love as a business strategy is rooted in three common misperceptions: Feelings don't belong in the office; love is mushy and therefore un-measurable; and loving your employees means letting them off the hook.

These are total bunk.

First off, like it not, emotions are at the root of every human endeavor. Whether it's work, home, or the Friday night bar scene, emotions drive the action. The idea that feelings are somehow unprofessional is a myth perpetuated by people who don't want to feel their own emotions and who are absolutely petrified at the thought of having to deal with someone else's.

However, we've all experienced the Darth Vader boss in the Cubicle of Darkness enough times to know that negative emotions can suck the life out of an organization. There comes a point when we have to get past our discomfort, and openly admit that success or failure is determined by the way that people feel.

Emotions lead to thoughts, thoughts lead to words, and words lead to action. It's not a leader's job to minimize feelings. It's a leader's job to create systems that ignite positive ones.

But how do you wrap your arms around measuring something as mushy as love? It's not like you can insert a heart meter into everyone at your office. And to be brutally frank, employee satisfaction surveys aside, measuring love isn't really about how much the employees love the boss, but it's about how effectively the boss loves the employees.

Leaders who know how to love make a practice of setting crystal clear expectations. They give consistent and accurate feedback and they provide people with the tools they need to get the job done. They're like great parents; they set their team up for success.

It's not about being a patriarchal jerk. It's about taking the responsibility for creating the conditions that will bring out the best in others.

Ask any working-class kid whose folks scrimped and saved to put them through college, they'll tell you that love is a completely measurable entity. It's not just about what you say, it's about what you actually do.

But you don't have to be demonstrative to be a loving leader. The true measure of love in leadership is how well your team understands the work needs to be done and the significance of their role in the big picture.

Which brings me to the final, and perhaps most fatal misperception about love and leadership -- which is that loving people means letting them off the hook. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, making the decision to love your people and your organization doesn't mean lowering your standards for them, if anything it means raising them.

The very nature of love is all about mutual accountability. When you love someone you expect them to give you the best of what they've got. And if they don't, you care enough about them to let them know exactly how they can improve in the future.

The bottom line is this -- Love isn't for softies or sissies Infusing love into your organization is just as challenging as infusing love into your family or any other relationship. And you don't really master the art of love until you stop thinking of it as a noun, and start practicing it as an active verb.

Love isn't something that leaders should be trying to get from their customers or their staff. Love is the strategy that leaders need to apply to their own actions. _Organizing your business around the discipline of love is no easy feat, but the payoffs are very measurable and real.

So let discomfort be damned. The real secret of lasting success is taking a good long look in the mirror and deciding that your people and your organization deserve a leader who has the courage to stand up and love them.

Related Articles
  PRIDE IS AT THE BOTTOM OF LEADERSHIP:
  For Good SEO You Must Go Back To Basics
  Powerful Relationship Selling
  LEADERS LOVE TOYS IN THE CHAMBER
  Love and leadership the love that dare not speak its name
  Getting to your North Pole
  Leadership Branding (Redux)
  EXPRESS YOUR LOVE!
  LEADERSHIP IS PERFORMANE NOT POSITION
  Eliminating the Fear of Failure
  Managing and Maintaining Performance
  Leadership fails without management
  The Essence of True Leadership
  LEADERSHIP IS CREATIVE THINKING NOT REACTIVE THINKING
  INVENTORIES CAN BE MANAGE BUT PEOPLE SHOULD BE LEAD.
  Succession Leadership is the Success Lynch Pin for Individuals, Businesses and Organizations
  Learning at the Frank Sinatra School of Leadership
  Work is Love made Visible
  Achieve Sales Leadership Mastery and Grow Sales Revenue
  What is True Leadership?

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Re: Hello from a San Diego-based marketer - Welcome Aaron! Whats the next stage for your business? Ben
Re: New, young entrepreneur - Congrats H20ismyLife! Do you have a website so we can see any of your work? Whats the next step for you?
Re: Business Women Peer Mentoring Spotlight - Hi Everyone, Gosh, I REALLY appreciate your concrete feedback. This was far more than I expected and I'm glad you said what you thought straight out. Each of you have shared something of value and I want to take some more time to think and really go over what each of you have said. However, I can see there are some things I need to change right away. What an interesting point about a NEW program perhaps making people think they are guinea pigs! This is NOT what I want to convey! It's funny how we can see some things so clearly in others while not always seeing it for ourselves! I must admit there are a few things I've been meaning to change (like my bio which is very outdated). Obviously, these things need to be higher on my priority list. You caught me like the plumber who puts his clients first and doesn't get around to fixing his own tap! As far as my target market, I do feel quite strongly about working with Women Leaders and doing Leadership Coaching with them. It's non-negotiable in my books. In my Executive Coaching training, the terms "Leaders" and "Executives" are interchangable. To me, an Executive is a Leader and so is the Business Woman or Entrepreneur who is CEO of her own business. I love working with decision makers! What I did learn is that I need to avoid opening up the Leadership term beyond what I described above. I'm also wondering if there is a misunderstanding with the general public as to what Leadership Coaching really is. Leadership Coaching is all about developing your leadership skills, both as a people manager and in more effectively running and growing the business. There is ALWAYS room for growth in some way. As well, sometimes, we just need a sounding board to clarify what our next BEST step is. In fact, if a woman thinks she has nothing to work on, then we aren't a good Client/Coach fit anyway. How can she grow if she doesn't see the value of expressing ALL of the great ability within her? How can her company grow if she doesn't see the value of strategic planning for the next best level? Thanks again to you all! I will go back to my website and really question whether I am conveying the right message. I got more than I bargained for in this Spotlight... you generously offered way more than I was asking. I think we could be on to something great for the Forum. Now it's time to let someone else have the spotlight. It would be great if everyone took a turn! In gratitude, Tami
Re: Quote of the Day - Oprah - Love it - thanks GT!
Re: Quote of the Day - "Failure is a word I don't accept." - Joh - Love that one - thanks GT!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

E Mail Marketing Campaigns

How to Improve Your Time Management

The Basics Of A Home Based Internet Business

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.