Millions of Dilbert-dazed office workers stagger like Zombies through the cubicle-crazed corporate graveyard from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Millions more of device-carrying, screen-staring, thumb-texting employees struggle to get through their workday.

And the data is depressing: 7 in 10 of your employees are disengaged -and cost American business $500 billion in lost productivity -according to Gallup.

Isn’t there anything a leader can do to awaken those Zombies to care more about your bottom line?

Sure. But shhhh! It’s a secret.

It’s such a power-packed secret that if a leader applies it knowingly and carefully this secret has the potential to stir interest, foster creativity, build teamwork, engender trust, instill confidence, reinforce credibility, spark innovation, increase productivity and strengthen profitability!

This secret is critical to our well-being. This secret is born in our need as human beings to be appreciated and bred in our relationships to be validated. This secret is…wait for it) love.

Who says that love is the best-kept secret of successful leaders?

Researchers James Kouzes and Barry Posner and they should know after 30 year-study assessing and interviewing over two million corporate and non-profit leaders all over the world.

As the authors of The Leadership Challenge — the most-sold leadership development book with over 1.5 million copies — Kouzes and Posner state emphatically that not only is “love the best-kept secret of successful leaders” but also that: “Of all the things that sustain a leader over time, love is the most lasting.”

Building on the research of Kouzes and Posner, LOVING Like a Leader comprises 77 short stories called Leadership Mints.

These stories illustrate how empathy — how a caring and sharing mindset (love in a business context) — can engage others to be more productive, more collaborative and more innovative in today’s challenging work environment.

You can find other examples of the bottom line impact of empathy in LOVING Like a Leader — one of three books in The Leadership Mints Series designed to help leaders refresh their feeling for leading.

The two other books in The Leadership Mints Series -now available on Amazon.com — include THINKING Like a Leader and SPEAKING Like a Leader.