Does love have a proper place in business? I think it does, and when I think of love and business, I think of Steve Farber. Farber is a bestselling author, leadership expert, and one of the most motivating speakers I have ever seen. I saw him speak 15 years ago and one sentence changed my life forever. Farber said, “Do what you love in the service of people who love what you do.”
That’s the big idea when you are starting a business: Do something you feel is interesting and valuable that does something meaningful or helpful for your customers / clients. To this day, I keep thinking about how we can appropriately channel love into our business to create something exceptional.
Farber dove deeply into this topic in Love Is Just Damn Good Business, which was listed by Book Authority as one of the top Business Strategy books for 2020.
In the video below, Farber makes the case that the foundation for great leadership comes from love. He says even very technical professionals like engineers get it when he explains it to them.
The English language gives us one word for love and this is a problem because it’s imprecise. The Ancient Greeks categorized love into several distinct types, ranging from passionate desire to friendship to love of family to love of self. For this post, let’s limit it to love that is appropriate for business.
When I think of a company that successfully operationalized love and incorporated it into their brand, I think of Southwest Airlines. From their logo with a heart to their ticker symbol, LUV, they never shied away from mixing love and business. The company loved their employees and their customers. People loved working there and customers loved to fly with them. And while they have gotten more buttoned up and corporate in recent years, the example is still a good one.
Just today I had my weekly call with a colleague who collaborates with me on my workshops. We always end our calls with “Love you!” And we mean it.
When a coaching client does something amazing, I might scream on our Zoom call, “I love that so much!”
I often tell my clients that sometimes I will need to share some hard truths (tough love), but it’s always done with kindness and a big hug.
My executive clients often talk about loving the people on their team or loving their company.
When I started my business, I wasn’t sure there was a place for love in business. Fifteen years later, I am certain there is.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
