Last summer saw the release of Chris and Karen Blakeley’s new book, Leading with Love.
In a world of work that is increasingly automated, optimised, tracked and measured, the humans at the heart of working life are being marginalised – subordinated to systems and processes that strip away our humanity. In a world like this, the value of love becomes more important than ever for reasserting our shared humanity:
This book presents original research based on leaders who were nominated by their people for leading with love. It shows how they learned to lead with love for the benefit of themselves, their organisations, and their people. It shows that leading with love is something that is practised by leaders who are more emotionally, morally, and spiritually mature. Leading with love is a sign of psychological maturity, whilst leading with fear is a sign of hindered emotional and spiritual development. Based on this research, this book presents a simple framework to help leaders who wish to develop their psychological maturity and apply practices which will enable them to successfully lead with love.
Over the coming weeks we’ll be delving deeper into Leading with Love, exploring its themes while examining the skills and practices that are needed to make leadership in the workplace a force for positive growth, and a counterweight to systemic dehumanisation.