Love and the Job Place

In a recent article I read on a blog dealing with jobs and various leadership discussions, I ran across one that kind of caught my fancy and so I wanted to share some points about it with you. This may not be directly related to your current job search, but does provide some food for thought on the job/career scene and leadership positions.

The article discussed what it terms the five “love affairs” of great leadership (being posted right around the Valentine's day time-frame, thus the love theme). What makes a leader better? What makes good leaders great? How can we all, in some way or fashion, not use these traits to our advantage in life? The five points discussed were learning, purpose, customers, team, and team members.

Learning is something we should all be striving to do. No one ever stops trying to learn because they have reached a level where they know if all (even though some people think they know it all ). A great leader should have a love for learning, for advancing, for getting even better at what they do. Skills can and should be constantly improved upon and added to, and having a love for the learning process will also flow down to those under you, instilling a desire to learn. A know-it-all leader is not as motivational as a learning-while-leading leader is.

Does your purpose at your job align with your company's mission statement? Some people just work where they work because they are allowed to work there; other work where they work because they love the company, mission and the direction it is going. They become leaders because of this love, and they hopefully instill a bit of this love and passion in those they lead. Some employees may have that cynical view of things, and they do not buy into "it" - they just do their job regardless of the inner conflict or disconnect with the company. Those types of people tend to lack the passion of push to go the extra mile and become successful leaders, so are not the type to be emulated to begin with. It is important to find a job that you can believe in, stand behind, and have the passion to be a leader in; that is the love that makes you a better leader.

When it comes to your customers (or clients, patients, or whatever they are to your field), your goal should be to have a general love for providing them with the best you and your company can offer. That love should be so evident as to flow over into your team members too. All that we do, we do for those people we serve. Without them, the company would serve no purpose and would disappear. It is this general love of the "customer" that helped to originate the old saying "the customer is always right." A great leader has this view, and will have a passion to provide the best service to those that they rely on for their company's wellbeing.

As just as important as the "customer" is, so is the leader’s team. That group of people that you are in charge of needs your full support, encouragement and training. A disconnected leader, who just issues orders but is not directly connected to, working with, or encouraging the team, will never be considered a great leader. A great leader will help, defend and stand behind the team when needed - that is how love is shown to those you lead.