Why Lead with Love?

In my last article and post, I wrote the point of these articles and posts was to discuss a different leadership style, a leadership style that has as its foundation Love. Perhaps it is appropriate that we introduce the topic “Leaders Love” on February 14-Valentine’s Day.

As leaders I believe we ought to love our people because it is the right thing to do. Love is the highest order of how we see and treat others. For me this is based on seeing all persons as created in the image of God. Most of us would agree that our many of our laws or societal expatiations are based on the Ten Commandments – for example, we have laws and/or expectations about caring for our parents (Exodus 20:12); against murder (Ex. 20:13); against stealing (Ex.20:15); against having relationships with someone else’s spouse (Ex. 20:14); and against bearing false witness against your neighbor (Ex.20:16). When Jesus was asked which is the greatest of these commandments He answered “Love the Lord with all thy heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40). My first reason for why we should love our followers is because it is the right thing to do. And, if we are to live our lives with integrity it means doing the right thing—regardless of the consequences (e.g., maybe not maximizing profits because of we choose first to maximize how we treat people).

We should also love our followers because leading with love will trump fear every time by creating feelings of acceptance, respect, trust, admiration, and devotion among those whom we lead. Leading with love will create Engaged followers, as well as an Attitude of love will help us create just and inclusive work environments. Helping our followers to achieve their own goals and life vision will more likely occur when we Delegate and Empower—and we will do that best when we see the individual dignity and worth of every person for whom we have the responsibility to lead by loving them.

In the next several posts we will look at the research on Love and Leadership to further our discussion of why Leading with Love matters. For now, let me close with a quote from an interview of Major General Stanford, former commander of the Military Traffic Management Command. When Kouzes & Posner* asked the general how he would go about developing leaders, he replied:

“I have the secret to success in life. The secret is to stay in love. Staying in love gives you the fire to ignite other people, to see inside other people, to have a greater desire to get things done than other people. A person who is not in love doesn’t really feel the kind of excitement what helps them to get ahead and lead others and to achieve. I don’t know any other fire, and other thing in life that is more exhilarating and is more positive a feeling than love is.”

*Kouzes & Posner. (1992). Ethical Leaders: An Essay About Being in Love. Journal of Business Ethics.??