What words come to mind when you think of great leaders? Vision, character, decisiveness, imagination. But what about love?
Consider these examples: Walt Disney, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, Florence Nightingale, Mahatma Gandhi, Oprah Winfrey, and Winston Churchill.
Each of these individuals, all very different, developed a powerful love for the people they served. This love inspired their actions, motivated their visions, and influenced their leadership styles.
Why Leadership Traits Come of Love
As these leaders learned, love engenders genuine compassion, empathy, kindness, connection, communication, trust, courage, bravery, grit, resolve, honesty, and loyalty. These are the most admirable traits and qualities in a leader, and they all share the same root: love.
10 Ways to Love as a Leader
To practice and develop love as a leader, consider these 10 practices:
Forgiveness: When someone offends you, choose forgiveness over resentment.
Kindness: Respond to provocation with kindness, even when it is difficult.
Civility: Avoid and stop gossip and criticism, and always respond with character and civility.
Understanding: Show calm and understanding in the face of anger and hate.
Recognition: Be quick to give credit and praise to others.
Appreciation: Honor and recognize the accomplishments of those around you.
Encouragement: Celebrate and speak of the effort, particularly when someone falls short or fails.
Positivity: Focus on and remember the positive qualities of those around you.
Friendship: Build relationships, fostering a sense of camaraderie and belonging.
Service: Find ways to help, lift, support, and care for other people (and forget yourself for a bit)
A 30-Day Morning Affirmation
Borrowed from Og Mandino’s book The Greatest Salesman in the World, we invite you to print this excerpt (or simply this newsletter) and recite this affirmation each morning for the next 30 days (and let us know what happens!):
“I will greet this day with love in my heart. For this is the greatest secret of success in all ventures. Muscle can split a shield and even destroy life but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of people and until I master this art I will remain no more than a peddler in the marketplace. I will make love my greatest weapon and none on whom I call can defend against its force. My reasoning they may counter; my speech they may distrust; my apparel they may disapprove; my face they may reject; and even my bargains may cause them suspicion; yet my love will melt all hearts liken to the sun whose rays soften the coldest clay.”
“But how will I react to the actions of others? With love. For just as love is my weapon to open the hearts of people, love is also my shield to repulse the arrows of hate and the spears of anger. Adversity and discouragement will beat against my new shield and become as the softest of rains.”
“Henceforth will I love all humankind. From this moment all hate is let from my veins for I have not time to hate, only time to love. From this moment I take the first step required to become a man among men. . . . If I have no other qualities I can succeed with love alone. Without it I will fail though I possess all the knowledge and skills of the world. I will greet this day with love, and I will succeed.”
Wrapping Up
Practice love and watch your life, your relationships, your leadership, your culture, and the world around you become a brighter and better place for it. That’s becoming your best!
“I will greet this day with love in my heart. For this is the greatest secret of success in all ventures. Muscle can split a shield and even destroy life but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of people and until I master this art I will remain no more than a peddler in the marketplace.“ – Og Mandino
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