Love Works in the Working World
I am very fascinated with the concept of leadership and developing good leadership skills. Lately, I have taken to reading books about leadership and the professional workplace. I am very young and have not had much experience in the professional workplace so I have been trying to gain knowledge from reading, which I happen to enjoy. I read Lean In earlier in the summer, which l actually wrote a blog post about. I just finished reading my second leadership book written by Joel Manby, titled Love Works.
I absolutely love the leadership style described in this book. It is so counterintuitive but, as proven by the history of the company highlighted in this book, Herschend Family Entertainment, so effective. I love the compassion and kindness that it promotes. I try to follow the rules and ethics described in this book in my personal life but it is so refreshing to hear that they can be applied in my professional life as well.
One point that most resonated with me was the idea that love is an action, not an emotion. This book stressed that when it says, "love," it does not mean the typical emotion that we all think of. Love, for the purpose of this book and this leadership style, is not the thing that makes the ending of Nicholas Sparks' movies so perfect. Love is an action. Love is the seven principles that Manby describes in this book.
The principle that I learned the most from was to be trustful. So many leaders have a hard time trusting other people, whether it be their equals, their direct reports or even their superiors. This leads to tension and stress on both sides of the situation. I think that if the work place were more trustworthy than much more would be accomplished. For example, what if an employee does not trust someone else to do a certain project and instead does it themselves, even if it is not part of their responsibility. This employee could be causing themselves unneccessary stress and hurting the person who's job it was to do the project in the first place. What if the employee responsible did the project and actuallly found a different, and more efficient, way of doing it? If they did not have the opportunity to perform this task then they would have never made life easier for themselves and anyone else who would do the project in the future. That is just one example of a way that being trustful could help a company.
Overall, I like the amount of emphasis that Manby places on company culture. Sometimes, I feel that company culture is underestimated. Not only does a company have to build a great brand for their customers, they also need to build a great culture for their employees. In a way, I think that customers actually see a reflection of the culture in the employees. Manby points out how If employees are happier, they will be more motivated to do a great job because they are working for a great company! It is a win-win! Not to mention, creating a great environment in the workplace is ethically the right thing to do. Each one of us will spend at least as much time at work as at home. I am not sure about you, but I definitely want to work at a place that I love!
I did not intend for this to come off sounding like such a book review. I just pulled out some of my favorite part about the books. I have a large amount of respect for what Herschend Family Enterntainment is doing within their company and would certainly give them my business!
I am so glad that I read this book because I hope that, as I enter the workforce in the near future, I can apply these principles to my workplace. They are so consistent with my ideology and I feel even more inspired to pursue this leadership style knowing that it has been so well applied elsewhere!
Below is a link to information about the book, as well as the book's information:
Manby, Joel. Love Works: Seven Timeless Principles for Effective Leaders. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012. Print.
