It’s Just Business … No, It’s Something Much More

In a prior blog, I defined love as L2 (valuing others) and presented the idea of love/L2 as a central principle to highly effective leadership. But, I imagine some of you may be trying to reconcile this idea with the common belief that business decisions need to be made outside of any context of love. We’re all taught, “it’s just business” aren’t we? Under this premise decisions are “never personal” and are always “practical”, “based on logic” and “based on the numbers”. The concept sounds totally rational and desirable. The problem, though, is that the mantra is at best a partial truth, and therefore, it’s not THE whole truth. There is a far better way to highly effective decisions and performance …

Far too many leaders hide behind this façade of ‘business’ as if it were a free pass for bad behavior. Like many life and leadership principles, the axiom of ‘it’s just business’ is a convenient oversimplification. Beware of the mindset, as embedded at its foundation is a dehumanization of others, a rationalization to take short-cuts and even a justification of behavior that goes against conscience. The mindset behind “anything goes” in business (or life) is a cunning rationalization that suggests we don’t need to (and can’t) be held accountable for how our decisions impact others. How convenient. And really … how shallow.

There are obviously hard decisions that leaders must make and these decisions typically require information, analysis, logic, counsel and wisdom. (My entire corporate career has been about profitability analysis, negotiations and improving performance, in some form or fashion, and often by following the numbers.) I would never advise someone to make decisions without considering information, facts and analysis, nor would I ever say improvement isn’t a goal that should be aggressively pursued. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no reason why leaders and organizations can’t deal with tough situations in love.

Love should influence not only how we think, but it must influence how we carry out our ‘difficult’ decisions. For a leader to act as anything less than humane is less than human. As leaders, we must remedy our misguided view that business is somehow distinct and separate from the balance of human relationships and existence. As long as organizations are made up of people, they will operate within the context and principles of human relationships. And, as a leader … of people … the actions we take will ALWAYS affect … people.

I realize many still see love as weak. Many still ‘feel’ love is inconsistent with making tough decisions, however I believe it is essential to not only making sound decisions, but to being a highly effective leader.

Consider what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has to say about love? He said, ‘Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.’ I think you’d be hard pressed to characterize Dr. King or his leadership style as weak, in any manner, as he held a proper tension and perspective of power AND love. He understood that leadership requires a degree of power and confidence, yet leading without love is actually ‘reckless and abusive’. ⁽¹⁾

Do you know what I believe is weak? Consider for a moment the multitude of people and leaders acting out of self-interest. The press is full of them … CEOs, college football coaches, baseball players, investment managers, politicians, professors … the list goes on and on. They do things with aggression and sometimes reckless abandon in pursuit of their own self-interest (which often happens to be motivated by financial gain). Is that the strength you’re looking for in a successful leader? Really? A person doesn’t have to be strong to let pride or an inflated ego let him or her take advantage of others. It only takes being shallow enough to pursue one’s own interests above everyone else’s. That’s clearly something we’re all capable of doing …but it’s born from weakness, not strength. And this, self-centered pursuit masquerading as strength, is supposed to be our model and motivation for leadership and greatness … self-interest? Really?

Love, on the other hand as L2 requires an inner strength that goes beyond self-interest. Love requires sacrifice and real strength! We’re all capable of love (as L2), but we may need to remove a few social, cultural and personal barriers to fully live into it. This is what I want to encourage all of us to do! Lean in to love! Lean into L2!

Join the revolution of L2!

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