Love in business

There are increasing numbers of writers, gurus and now even a few business leaders who advocate greater love, compassion and spirituality in corporations.

There are also various interpretations of these ideas about love and ethics, about compassion and spirituality. This is fine. It's normal for any significant concept to have several interpretations, and these reflect the different ways of applying the concept in different situations.

Some interpretations have a compassionate or spiritual foundation; others are quite rightly incorporated within wider issues of corporate social responsibility and ethical business. Other ideas approach the concept from the environmental angle, or sustainability, or 'fair trade'.

The challenge for modern managers and leaders to develop an interpretation of love and spirituality that will work for your own organizational situation.

Here are some ideas about love in business and management, from different perspectives. They are two different interpretations. Hopefully they will help you see ways that love and compassion and spirituality, which are tricky to measure and describe in tangible specific terms, can be applied in a practical sense in work and organizations.

The first article is by Barbara Heyn, a Cincinnati-based consultant, who helps organizations develop relationships and capabilities among people and teams, particularly in response to challenges of globalization and cultural diversity.

The second is a piece by Sonia Stojanovic, a McKinsey consultant, which features in Solaria Green's book, 'The New Visionaries: Evolutionary Leadership for an Evolving World'.