I remember beginning work on my dissertation in post-graduate school and interviewing faculty as potential committee members for my study. I outlined to them the model of leadership that I wanted to introduce into the great body of knowledge.
After speaking with several professors, one of the deans spoke with me about my leadership model and told me that people wouldn’t understand it, because the word would turn them off. I was shocked!
I was disappointed, and most profoundly, I was disillusioned. How could this word not be discussed in an advanced study of leadership? How could we talk and theorize about motivating and inspiring others without talking about this word?
What did leadership really mean? What did followership really mean, without this word? How could people not be drawn to this word, and even more shocking, how could this word be so powerful as to turn people off? What is this powerful, scary, misunderstood word?
L-O-V-E.
Love! Shocking, isn’t it?
Who’s in?
I am!
With LOVE,
Maria
Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.
We all leave a legacy, whether by choice or unconsciously. So why not intentionally create the legacy? Do you really want someone else to define your legacy? Meaningfulness, is feeling a part of something bigger, as big as a legacy.
Do you remember the classic rock song by The Who, Who Are You? It is truly one of my favorites! Little did I know when I first heard this song in 1978 that I would ponder the importance of this question 35 years later. 
We see social responsibility manifested in the philanthropic activities organizations are doing; and they are not just writing checks to non-profits. Companies are building schools, putting shoes on children, and teaching third-world countries how to harvest water. We have business models emerging with the primary purpose of serving others. Guess what? These businesses are making money! They have learned how to connect the heart with the bank account. A Course in Miracles tells us, “If you feel the love of God within you, you will look out on a world of mercy and of love.” That is exactly what some organizations are doing. 
Power is a hot topic. Not all power is equal. Bertram Raven and John French identified five different power bases: legitimate, coercive, expert, reward, and referent. 
Love of Self, Love of Source, and Love of Others (the love-based leadership model) all require love, trust, and commitment to growth and development in the workplace. If trust and love are not ever-present, then fear-based decisions will result. “For centuries the human species has been discovering that it is the creator of its own reality, making the discovery, and retreating from it in disappointment (because the wizard [referring to the Wizard of Oz story] is not what we expected) and in fear (because the freedom the discovery brings is unknown and terrifying).”1. Fear is powerful; so powerful that it alone creates a false reality of that which is feared in the first place. Victor Frankl illustrates, “It is characteristic of this fear that it produces precisely that of which the patient is afraid…the wish is father to the thought…the fear is mother to the event.”2. Once again, choice is everywhere, calling for a decision between choosing love to guide us or fear to guide us. “Man is not born slave or free, but creates himself as one or the other through free or voluntary action.”3. 
I am almost embarrassed by the fact that while I knew forgiveness intellectually, I didn't really learn the heart-lesson until 10 years ago when I had a great learning experience regarding forgiveness. My mentor, a consultant hired by our corporate office, leveraged the difficulty in the relationship I had with our division general manager to his advantage. By indicating that he was still needed beyond his contract because the division general manager and I were not getting along, he prolonged his lucrative consultant income. 
This is a photo of my business partner, Dr. Dorothy Bonvillian and I in Old San Juan standing in front of a plaque at the home and office of one of my mentors, Dr. Victor Frankl. Victor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, revolves around our striving to be fulfilled along with the powerful message of choice. Dr. Frankl, a brilliant psychiatrist, was working on his Logotherapy theory when he was captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in a series of concentration camps. His notes and all of his possessions were seized. Stripped of everything, literally and figuratively, he was given a number to replace his name. “The experience of camp life shows that man does have a choice of action,” Frankl stated, “Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.”1. Dr. Frankl realized the truth in his theory when he wrote, “What alone remains is ‘the last of human freedoms’—the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”2. Those are very wise and applicable words then, and today. When we place ourselves in a victim role, we are victims. We do create our own realities. However, we have a choice in how that reality looks, as co-creators. We can choose to create a different perception, a different reality. 
Perceptions are the stories we tell ourselves regarding what we see and how we interpret the world around us. Les Brown, one of the great 21st century storytellers said, “How people live their lives is as a result of the stories that they believe about themselves,” What are your stories? Do they serve you as your aspire to reach your highest potential? Do your stories lift you up or do they bring you down? Do your stories represent who you really are, your true essence? 
Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, we can see how our basic and safety needs are met, just by having a job and a paycheck. The pay affords us the ability to meet our basic and safety-level needs. 
As we move into the season of Spring, a sense of wonder and renewal comes upon me. This is such a beautiful time of year, fresh with new beginnings and renewal. It is important for us, as leaders, to also take the time for renewal and reflection. Years ago, when I was in my doctoral program I wrote a poem of renewal and published it in my first book, Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance. 
As we teach, we must remember that we are not transmitting information—we are transforming lives. That may sound a bit dramatic, but that is exactly what good teaching does; it transforms. Transformation comes about through many different forms: motivation, persuasion, mobilization, influence, and of course miracles. When we teach, we are in essence saying, I care about you, you are important, and I want to help. Wow, who wouldn’t be motivated forward with that type of message? Motivation also comes from demonstrating belief in others. Teaching affords us an opportunity to build esteem and self-efficacy. Think of Maslow’s needs hierarchy; esteem and self-actualization are the top highest levels. Teaching and learning meet both of the high order needs for yourself and for those you teach. 
We expect leaders, including ourselves, to have the answers. If we don’t have the answer to a leadership challenge, we may feel inadequate. These feelings, like inadequacy, may also include feelings of uncertainty and vulnerability. None of these feelings feel good to us, nor are allowed in the workplace, or so we’ve been taught. 
We have organizations full of over-worked, over-stressed employees who find little or no meaning in the work they do for eight to ten hours each day. 
As we close out this month of Love, let’s look at how we can translate that into a love-based leadership model. In my book, Love-Based Leadership: Transform Your Life with Meaning and Abundance, I present a very simple, yet profound way to lead based on three pillars: Love of Self, Love of Source, and Love of Others. 
As we conclude this exploration of organizational cultures, we go to the deepest part. Values, like beliefs, are elements extremely important to us, but we are not aware of them until we face a situation that forces them into our consciousness. Integrity, honesty, and ethical beliefs are a few values that often drive organizational and ethical behaviors. 
