Letter to the Editor
In my search for a freelance editor for the book, I received a response a few weeks ago that perfectly captures the reaction many people have when they hear "Love as a KPI." Before even sharing his credentials for the task, he jumped straight into what many wonder—whether out of skepticism or curiosity—when considering 'Love' in a business context.
Here's what he said, verbatim:
"My questions about your intentions with the book are:
How do we really teach business leaders to lead with love in the face of business targets? What I have discovered in my line of work is that organizations do a lot of training and coaching, but the sustainability of such interventions is questionable. It's easy to make PowerPoints, but culture eats strategy for breakfast, and it doesn't take long before business leaders revert to the status quo.
How do you measure the impact of your intervention after they read 'Love as a KPI?'"
I admit, my first reaction was, "Sooo can you edit?"—ha.
But within moments, I shifted my perspective. This is no different from what I (and other practitioners) heard for many years in the customer experience field (though less so in the past ~7 years): "How can we improve CX when we have business targets to meet?"
Every time I get some version of the question "How can we focus on people outcomes when we have business outcomes to focus on?", my answer remains the same: People outcomes are business outcomes. The former drives the latter.
Here was my response to the editor’s insightful and relevant questions:
"Love is not the antithesis to business targets; it's the accelerant of them.
As for sustainability, it's not about what a leader says—it's about who they are purposefully becoming.
Culture doesn't eat strategy for breakfast; it's our innate nature that consumes our words and intentions for breakfast."
