Love: The Killer App

Love: The Killer App

"Love is the act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your
knowledge, networks, and compassion with your business
partners."
--Tim Sanders, Chief Solutions Officer, Yahoo

Yahoo senior executive, Tim Sanders, published a book on
Valentine's Day titled Love Is the Killer App: How to Win
Business and Influence Friends. In his book he explains that the
road to prosperity is paved with a commitment to generosity. He
believes that what the business world needs is less greed and
more love. "When you help others grow to become the best people
that they can be, you are being loving -- and as a result, you
grow. The most powerful force in business is love. It's what
will help your company grow and become stronger. It's what will
propel your career forward. It's what will give you a sense of
meaning and satisfaction in your work."

Sanders believes there are three critical drivers of
professional success. He calls them the "three elemental
particles of love in business." They are knowledge, networks,
and compassion.

Knowledge: We must learn as much as we can as quickly as we can
and then aggressively share that knowledge with others. Sanders
says "that means taking the power of ideas seriously, reading
books voraciously, and developing a system of organizing what
you've learned. To be an impact player in business, you simply
have to know more than most other people know." One of the
tremendous benefits of sharing your knowledge with others is
that they will be eager to give you helpful feedback in return.
"They'll tell you which ideas worked out well and which didn't
work out so well. They'll tell you which contacts were helpful
and which weren't. They'll keep talking to you. And you'll keep
learning from them. It's a loop."

Networks: Our knowledge does not hold much value if we don't
have a network of people to share it with. Sanders encourages
us to expand our network of people who share our values, and to
connect as many of them with each other as possible. Success is
based on the people we know. Everyone in our contact database
is a potential partner for everyone we meet. The value of our
network is in our willingness to share it. The purpose of
collecting contacts is to give them away … to match them with
other contacts. Sanders notes that those who appear
insignificant today "may be stars waiting to rise. Someday,
they may become key nodes in your network -- and create a huge
opportunity for you. And they will remember that it was you who
was on their side before everyone else was."

Compassion: Most important, Sanders says, is to "be as openly
human as you can be and find the courage to express genuine
emotion in the harried, pressure-filled world of work." We
should behave this way, not because we expect something in
return, but because it's the right way to behave. Sanders notes
that "the less you expect in return for acts of professional
generosity, the more you will receive." Your success is a
direct result of their success. Lennon and McCartney said it
better than anyone else: "In the end, the love you take is
equal to the love you make."

Authentic Promotion

What Sanders has to say resonates with some teleconference
discussions I recently participated in. The course, called
Authentic Promotion, was offered by my coaching colleague and
friend Molly Gordon, whom I went through coach training with. I
must admit that I entered into this experience dragging both
feet. You see, I've never particularly enjoyed marketing - a
necessary part of being in business for oneself. But when I saw
the title "Authentic Promotion," I was drawn to it.

Authentic promotion is about leading an authentic life of
meaning and purpose, which ultimately creates the desire and
ability to make a larger contribution to this world. Authentic
promotion becomes an extension of offering to others the gifts
that you have been given. Nothing can top the deeply satisfying
experience of using our own unique gifts to improve the world
in some meaningful way.

Authentic promotion - matching your ability to serve with
someone else's needs -- becomes an act of love as you offer
your gifts, solutions, and talents to others. Wow! This way of
thinking has certainly put a different spin on "marketing" for
me. For more information on the course Authentic Promotion
visit: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=31764

When you create a bigger vision for your life work, you make a
conscious choice to think beyond yourself. You become less
concerned with individual gain and more concerned about how
others will benefit. This does not mean that your own needs
don't matter. Quite the contrary! Self-care becomes vital so
that your giving comes from a pure place, without attachment to
what you'll get in return.

I recently came across a website for The Giraffe Project
http://www.giraffe.org - a nonprofit organization that moves
people to stick their necks out for the common good. John
Graham, executive director, notes that "people who operate with
meaning in their lives don't find that meaning in their
activities or their positions or their possessions. They draw
it forth from themselves and put it into their activities, not
the other way around. And the meaning they draw forth always
seems to come from committing to ideals greater than themselves
and their own needs. It is this commitment that generates the
enthusiasm, passion and power found in people who lead
meaningful lives."

As the USA nears our Independence Day celebration on July 4th, I
feel grateful that I have the freedom to choose my life work…and
that the work I have chosen is meaningful to me. I recently
wrote down my values as they relate to my own authentic
promotion plan. Here are the questions I asked myself, followed
by my responses:

* What do I want for people? I want people to experience peace
and fulfillment in their lives.

* What do people need in order to have this? People need tools
to organize their environment and manage their time well so
they can focus on what's most important to them.

* How can I be of service? I can help people de-clutter their
lives, teach them how to prioritize and manage their time, and
provide them
with the support they need in order to stay focused on their
priorities.

* What is my larger vision that will guide my work? My vision is
to provide people with practical tools and resources they need
in order to stay focused on what's most important.

Are you living an authentic life in what you do for your life
work? Write down your response to these questions to help you
connect with your values and your vision.

* What do I want for people?

* What do people need in order to have this?

* How can I be of service?

* What is my larger vision that will guide my work?

* What can I do to authentically promote my vision, starting
today?