Think about your organization’s values for a second. I bet you have values such as integrity, honesty, innovation, or others that are similar. Maybe you have something like, Take Risks, or Customer Obsession, or even Embrace Curiosity. But do you have the word “love” anywhere on that list? Does even saying that in a business context make you feel a bit nervous?
While it’s Valentine’s Day season and we’re talking about love in all its forms this time of year, I bet you never thought about including that word in any sort of business communications whatsoever except maybe to say “We love our customers” or “We love a challenge.”
Your invitation today is to think about the role love plays in your company’s mission, culture, and success, in the way you operate with each other, and to not be afraid of it anymore. We’re in this together. But we need to show up in ALL areas of our lives and business. Don’t be afraid to make work personal. Get aligned. Choose love.
To access this episode transcript, please scroll down below.
Key Takeaways:
- We don’t all have a common definition or construct around love, even though it’s one of the most important human emotions.
- “Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust.” – bell hooks
- Choose love – you can start small with those in your circle and let it grow from there. We are in this together, but we need to show up and choose love in all aspects of our lives.
“Now is the time to use your voice and choose love – as a leader, as a colleague, and as an organization.” — Maria Ross
References Mentioned:
bell hooks: All About Love: New Visions
Red Slice blog post: Choose Love
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FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Think about your organization’s values for a sec. Oh, and if you don’t have those articulated, we should probably talk. I bet you have values such as integrity, honesty, innovation, fail fast, or others that are similar, maybe you have something like take risks or customer obsession, or even, as one client of mine did in the past, embrace curiosity, which I always loved, especially as it relates to empathy. But do you have the word love anywhere on that list? Does even me saying that in a business context make you feel a bit nervous while it’s Valentine’s Day season, and we’re talking about love in all its forms, this time of year, I bet you never thought about including that word in any sort of business communications whatsoever, except maybe to say we love our customers or we love A challenge. Well, your invitation today is to think about the role love plays in your company’s mission, culture and success, in the way we operate with each other, and to not be afraid of it anymore. Of course, I don’t mean romantic love, although I and a few others all met our spouses at one particular company I once worked for, I’m talking about love in its truest form. Last year, I devoured Bell Hooks, his book all about love, New Visions, in which she explores the fact that we don’t all have a common definition or construct around love, even though it’s one of the most important human emotions, and that’s part of the problem, individually and as a collective world. The book got me thinking about what I really believe love to be. I’d never really thought that much about it before. And she goes on to talk about how we conflate love with romantic love or caring, or even fondness. For those of you who don’t know her Bell was an American author and social activist writing about race, feminism and class she explored the intersectionality of race, capitalism and gender and what she described as their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination. She published more than 40 books, ranging from essays to poetry to children’s books, and appeared in many documentary films, as well as being a lecturer. She sadly passed away in 2021 and to my own detriment, that was the first time I ever heard of her. So I began reading her work. Bell writes that quote Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust. She also states in another book that to love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds, commitment, responsibility, respect, trust required in all meaningful relationships. If that doesn’t have a place in organizational culture, I don’t know what does our workplaces are, where many of us spend the bulk of our time, if you add up the time each week, you often spend way more of your waking hours with your work colleagues, clients or customers, than with your own family. So how can love not have a place in these essential relationships? Again, we don’t have to think of love romantically. We can think of it exactly how Belle describes it. Love means caring. It means commitment. It means honesty, respect and trust as we break free from outdated models of corporate culture and dysfunctional relationships with colleagues or customers, we can see that love absolutely needs to be part of the equation. A while back, I wrote a blog post called choose love, and I’ll link to it in the show notes. It was about embedding love into your values and business model, no matter what you do, no matter how big or small your organization, no matter who you are, you have influence, whether it’s 100,000 followers a team of 150
or your email list is just your mom and your best friend, whatever you’ve got use it.
Right. Never underestimate the importance of your work or message, no matter what your role. It may seem trite, but if you can influence or inspire even just a few, then you’ve done your job well.
Now more than ever in these tumultuous times when folks are feeling raw, vulnerable and afraid. Now is the time to use your voice and choose love as a leader, as colleagues and yes, as an organization.
You can absolutely build love into your values, leadership style, or Yes, business model like this. Love yourself and be self confident so that you don’t feel the need to bully others or let bullies win over you. Love your neighbors and colleagues, so that all people can feel accepted and appreciated. Love your clients, so you can bring real, honest value to them. Love your customers, so you can make their lives better with your products or services. Love your partners so you can create wins that benefit everyone. Love your community, so you can collectively pull everyone up together. Love your environment, so it’s beauty and nourishment and riches generations to come. Love your family and friends so they have a firm foundation to fully spread their own love to others. Here’s what I know to be true, no matter what your religion, nationality, gender, identity or even sexual orientation, the only thing that matters is how you show up in the world and love. You are the example when you think no one is watching, because sometimes only you are watching and you want to be proud of what you see.
Same thing goes for your company. Maybe you’re not world famous, maybe you don’t think the press will care about you. Or perhaps you think you’re so large that such a personal value doesn’t impact your work day to day. I’m here to tell you that’s not true. It all matters to someone somewhere, sometime, an employee, a leader, a customer, someone in the community,
choose love. Start small and practice love with whoever is in your circle of influence right now, if that’s just your family and friends, choose love, if it’s a small team or 1000s of employees, stakeholders or email subscribers or Instagram followers, choose love.
We’re in this together, but we need to show up in all areas of our lives, business too. Don’t be afraid to make work personal. Get aligned, choose love.
Thanks for listening. Have a great February.
