To paraphrase Jackie DeShannon, “What the business world needs now is love, sweet love.”
What’s love got to do it? Exactly what Robin Anselmi explained at a DisruptHR meeting in Richmond, VA last spring. “Love makes us smarter,” she said. “Love respects the dignity of every individual. It is the strength of any organization.”
It’s also what the robots don’t do. It won’t be long before robots take over the kinds of things leaders do, she observed, “Things like critical thinking, logic, analysis, decision-making. So if the robots are doing that,” asks Anselmi, client solution lead at Conversant, “What are we doing?”
The kind of love that leaders need is the kind of love that let’s them see beyond a person’s outside. The kind of love that is supportive, rather than combative. That makes us collaborative, instead of negative and critical.
“Love is the most human of resources,” she says, so “Let us be the passionate, courageous, unapologetic advocates for this kind of leadership skill.”
Article Continues Below
In partnership with DisruptHR, TLNT presents some of the best Disrupt presentations from events across North America and now the world. Disrupt talks are modeled on the TEDx concept: Short, to the point talks on all things HR — talent, culture and technology.
You do not need to love coworkers and direct reports and very few people do. I think the author misuses the word love when what she means is like, respect, and treat with dignity and kindness.