Have you put your love in your leadership?

It is February, the month we celebrate Valentine’s Day and the power of love. In business, we seldom talk about love and how to incorporate it into leadership. But we should! Love and compassion are important leadership and personal development traits, and they can be cultivated. I’ve been in business for many years, and have observed numerous instances of business leaders practicing love. I’d like to share some examples that might give you some ideas how you could cultivate love and compassion in your leadership. As you read these examples, ask yourself these questions: Have I ever observed a similar act of love and compassion, and if so, what was the consequence? How would I react if someone did that to me? Here’s the list:

• A CEO calls a customer service representative when her daughter is in the hospital to ask, “Is there anything we can do for you?”
• A manager leaves work at 5:30 and says good night to each employee, by name, as he passes their cubicle. Some of the employees do not report to him and one (me) is a consultant who is surprised that he knows my name because I am working with another department.
• A Vice President draws her organizational chart with frontline workers on the top and her position on the bottom. She says, “This represents who is most important to the corporation.”
• A division President calls all his Vice Presidents and their direct reportees on their birthdays to wish them well and thank them for their service to the organization.
• A President of a small company writes a large bonus check in the middle of the year to thank a new employee for his outstanding efforts.
• The CEO pays for a junior employee’s emergency surgery because the employee’s company-provided health insurance hadn’t yet kicked in. That employee eventually is promoted to be the Vice President of Human Resources at the company.
• A manager regularly asks her employees how she can support them in their job.
• A company has to sell off a division to maintain solvency and chooses a buyer who would retain all existing employees, not the buyer that offers the highest price.

Love and compassion can be ridiculed by some as “soft” or “wimpy”. Yet, recent studies have shown that employees are more productive and more engaged if they perceive that their manager cares about them as a person. In each of the above situations, love and compassion were shown. The recipients of these acts of kindness become loyal employees who go the extra mile for the company – a priceless trait that pays big dividends. There are bottom-line benefits to exhibiting love in a work environment.

How do you show love and compassion in your leadership? Send your stories to me at [email protected].

---