“Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly, and without expectation. We don’t love to be loved; we love to love.”
— Leo Buscaglia
If you’re a love-driven leader, you’re others-oriented, which makes you success-oriented. You’re likely to value people development. Genuine love for self and others releases confidence, purpose, optimism, and a sense of belonging in people. If you’re love-driven you’ll likely view your team as a family than a collection of individual employees.
Louis Carter aptly states, “Leading with love is the key to success. Understanding and caring about what motivates and empowers others is essential to leading with love. Love is about respecting individuals’ differences and their processes for growth. It is about caring enough to understand what is significant to them and supporting them in achieving their goals.
The secret to leadership effectiveness is to lead with love. Love the people you lead, and your leadership effectiveness will improve dramatically. Many studies have demonstrated that having a solid and supportive relationship whether romantic, familial, acquaintanceship, leadership, or otherwise can lead to enhanced self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem.” (1)
Julie Daily writes, “Love-based leadership honors and supports people in such a way that they feel empowered to bring what is within them into expression in the world. Love-based leadership requires leaders to move into a different kind of relationship with those we lead.
We relate differently in order to free ourselves and others to be more expressive, curious, playful, creative, innovative, collaborative, strong, kind, and powerful.” (2)
Learning From Experience
Early in my career, I pursued love-driven leadership. Establishing a relational style of leading from love was uncharted territory at the time, and although challenging, I found that the benefits far outweighed my efforts.
I learned being love-driven flows from values that honor, protect, and empower those who work with me. As I matured in these love-driven values, I found that the teams I led began working without fear of having their mistakes used against them. The positive energy generated by this love-driven philosophy became highly contagious.
I found Love-driven leadership to be so effective that it engendered trust and respect unsolicited. I learned to establish an employee relational culture of love that’s forgiving, inspiring, creative, humble, and empowering!
When leaders love the people working with them, they soon experience that same love and respect in return. I found that to be true while in my twenties and could not imagine leading any other way.
I encourage leaders and managers to,
Take time to get to know your people
Remember their birthdays, anniversaries, names of family members
Genuinely care about the challenges they face at home and work.
Train your people well, and trust them to make crucial decisions.
Appreciate your people and affirm their value to you and the organization.
Remind yourself you cannot accomplish your vision without your team.
In Closing, Never let an opportunity to get to know someone go by without appreciating them for who they are. If you want to multiply adding value to others, teach people the lifestyle of developing love-driven leaders. You’ll be adding value for generations to come.
End Notes
(1) Louis Carter “What is the Psychology of Love in Leadership? https://t.ly/AP2FQ
(2) Julie Daily “How to Be a Love-Based Leader” https://rb.gy/mf9rf
*** This article was authored by John Picarello, Chief Leadership Officer at Lions Pride Leadership Co. ***