Published:

02/24/2012 09:22pm

A Four Letter Word That Will Transform Your Business

And in the end, the love you make, is equal to the love, you take. ~Lennon and McCartney~

I use to get annoyed by Valentines Day. I considered it a cash grab perpetrated by the greeting card, floral, lingerie and confectionary industries to get American consumers to pay $18.6 billion (according to the National Retail Federation) in order to materially express our love for our partners. A ritualized example of commercial hucksterism.

When reflecting on Valentines Day and the profit derived from the notion of love, it occurred to me that if businesses really "occupy" the notion of love in their corporate cultures, profits would flourish, leaders would be more fulfilled, and the ripple effect would transform the social and environmental crises facing the planet today.

The Business of Love

Why is there no love in corporations? Why is love all but stricken from the corporate lexicon?

First, as business people we are mired in the distorted paradigm that we need to "compete" for "our fair share" - win/lose thinking, which is based on the assumption that there aren't enough resources for everyone to live in material abundance. Scarcity is based on fear - fear that there won't be enough. And fear and love - as opposing polarities, cannot co-exist.

Second, love is misperceived as "soft" in a hard corporate world, when in actuality, to lead with an open heart - the source of love, trust, connection and empowerment - requires real courage, and is the only true source of power. A much more skillful way to live and lead.

Finally, the model of capitalism was built on the limited notion turned self-fulfilling prophecy that self interest drives human behavior. From there it has grown into a pathological pursuit for more, perpetuated by an epidemic of fear.

As a result, love in business is a misconceived anomaly - strange bedfellows that rarely exist in-tandem. But that is changing. We're at the precipice of a social transformation in capitalism, and leaders that ignore this do so at their peril.

A Call For Courage

Imagine a courageous CEO, a mindful leader, prepared to operate from his heart as well as his head. A CEO who has asks the questions - how can I serve? What is our purpose and what is the purpose of business? What is driving my life - my ego, or an intelligent force field based on love? And what if I try on love as a corporate mantra - compassion and caring for all my stakeholders - employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, community, even my competition? Imagine a company with a higher sense of purpose, that is totally endearing to all its stakeholders. What would that look like in terms of profit, market value, joy, peace, fulfillment!?

Heartshare Equals Marketshare

Professor Raj Sisodia wrote an excellent book, called Firms of Endearment, where he profiled 30 companies operating from this place of compassion and service, and empirically demonstrated that not only were their employees happier and more engaged, but their stock market value outperformed the S&P 500 over a 10 year period by a factor of 8.

As human beings, whether we admit it or not, our greatest need is connection and relationship, the source of which is love. That source is also happens to be the most powerful creator of enterprise value. Employees want love - caring and connection - to each other and to a higher purpose - to go the extra mile. Customers want to be in love. The brands of Starbucks, Google, Whole Foods, Harley Davidson, Apple could be considered "Lovemarks" instead of "Trademarks". And if customers can't find love, they'll settle for the cheapest price instead of paying you a premium.

There are many great pioneers in private and public companies who realize that emotionally intelligent leadership is at the heart of this new value revolution. They realize that "heart-share" is a more skillful intention than "wallet-share" - ultimately leading to the greatest profit and value creation. Below are a few:

Innovators Embrace Love and Build Great Wealth

• Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi,