The Get Real Blog

We are thrilled to have Tim Sanders as our very first member of the Miracle Leader Hall of Fame! Tim Sanders is the bestselling author of Love is the Killer App, The Likeability Factor and his newest book Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals can do to go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference is due out fall 2008.

Tim is truly leading miracles in the workplace by introducing compassion, humanity and social responsibility into business and revealing how this leads to increased profitability and a more positive and productive work environment.

Love is the Killer App. When I first heard the title of the book…I had no idea what it meant. Love is the Killer App? What did that mean? Is the author, Tim Sanders, going to offer Love as the Hors D’uevres at his next big shin dig? Then after thinking about it, my slow brain began to function. I got it. Ok…Love makes for the Killer Application (not appetizer).

 If you have not had the opportunity to read this fabulous book by Tim Sanders…run, don’t jog, to your nearest internet based book store and read it! I promise it will put a fresh flavor on the pseudo- spiritual books that talk about Love from someone’s translated opinion.  Sanders gets it!  He knows that Love is not just some soppy emotion to make people feel better…Rather, it is the key ingredient to Mom and Apple Pie. Let’s just say without Love there is no Mom and there is no apple pie. Furthermore, there is no relationship and no multi-million dollar deal.

What Sanders explains is that Love is an application. It is a way of being that ends up “doing” a miracle of good for the workplace and the entire planet. I love that. Don’t you?  I believe that his practical and application-oriented way of talking about love as a service to others is profound and a much needed reframe for the world. For example: If I really study to keep myself up on the latest information about a particular topic, I can more easily share that with others. It adds value…and it adds love. It is in fact the Loving thing to do. That is only one good example of application from his book.

The question I have been asking for years in my study of successful organizations is whether people work more creatively from a place of fear or love? Oh duh…let me see…says the old style autocratic manager…As you can imagine, it is usually fear.  They want to keep their people in fear so they will be obedient and he remains in control. Ultimately, this kind of manager is really just fearful he or she might not have all the best ideas.  That same old style manager is still hanging out somewhere south of the industrial revolution. Has anyone noticed our economy is not based in manufacturing anymore?  My point is, you can beat the daylights out of a machine and chances are it will probably keep running for you, as long as you put gas and oil in it. If you beat your people they will likely poop out…or resent the hell out of you (or quit). People generally don’t do their most creative work when they resent their managers.

I remember when I first started talking to groups and people about Leadership. It seemed like we were in the midst of a huge transition. We were transitioning from the old management style which involved telling our people what to do to that of being of service to our people. We were in the midst of a shift from a mechanical revolution based in widgets and auto engines as we moved to a technology based society. The new technology was connecting  people at a Mach 10 pace which meant all of us had the information instantly. We could learn faster and share information with a click of our mouse. This was an interesting dynamic for the managers for it signaled a new era where they  could no longer control their people. Managers now had to begin to learn to serve the customers and the employees.

Now don’t get me wrong…I am not saying that the employee is running the show. I am saying if you don’t listen to your employees, give them a voice and contributing to your decision tree you’re not truly serving the business. Most employees are smarter than their managers these days. Smart, successful managers will embrace and love this shift that has been made and leveraging the fact that employees got it “going on.” 

The point that Sanders drives home in this excellent book is that Love really can make your world go around. You won’t be looking for a job ever again because the only job you have from now on will be Loving everyone from the customer to the chatty seat mate on the long late flight to Boston.  We are all too connected through technology and consciousness to deny it any further.

The point which I agree so wholeheartedly with Tim Sanders is that there is a definite pertinent connection between Leadership and Loving.  I dedicated an entire chapter to this in my book Learning to Believe the Unbelievable: Living Life as A Miracle Leader. Chapter 12 is devoted to the energetic of Loving. Some people might call it trust and others may refer to it as respect. Frankly, I don’t give a hoot what you call it as long as you get in touch with the critical connection of Loving and Leadership.
You have got to get real about the fact that if you don’t love your job on some level then you will stink at it. This will become more and more evident the further you go forward in a job you don’t love. 

Additionally, if you don’t really love people on some level you will stink at relationships, too. It’s time to stop complaining about the people around you anymore and step forward in your power. Perhaps you are surrounded by a few scoundrels. Maybe you’re the scoundrel. I have played the part as a scoundrel quite well a few times, my dear friends. We all have. But now I can always come back to love. 

I can always open my heart to the courage of the human Spirit and celebrate my Leadership through Loving. So there is no reason to feel doomed. Just get hip to the fact that Love and Leadership are the Killer Applications. Realize that the only application you will need to fill out is within you – it is your own ability to lead your own life and love it. If you can exist in this world with those skills and abilities, you will indeed be a commodity beyond compare. Yes, you will still need to be able to turn on a computer and find the coffee pot…but make sure on your way you let someone in the office know you care about their world too. That may show up as being a great listener or telling the truth fast and your personal leadership has many faces. You just need to know what face to take to the bank today…and everyday.