What if you thought of your company or organization as if it were a 747 jet flying at 35,000 feet. All of your employees are on board. Of course, you are in the pilot’s seat.

You sense your awesome responsibility not only for the safety and security of your employees but also for your company’s fiduciary commitments to customers, stockholders etc. through your employees. You realize the significance of your “corporate jet” that management and staff are in this together, that we need each other.

We have to work with each other — and for each other — to achieve our common destiny: a safe landing. And as the pilot of your “corporate jet” you adopt the communications protocol of Air Traffic Controllers who pose this question during an emergency: How many souls on board? The word “souls” more clearly communicates the inclusive list of humans at risk (passengers, pilots and crew).

We Need Each Other

That realization that we are all in this together no matter where you are sitting in this organization — in First Class or Coach, in the Pilot’s seat or in Aft seat — stems from a feeling of caring and sharing with others, a feeling of interdependence on each other, a sense of love of and for each other that feeds the organization in general and the leaders in particular to better adapt to changing conditions in real time.

And in serving their collective souls, loving leaders tap into an ever-widening and enriching treasure chest of humanity with all of its attendant inspiration, imagination and innovation that leads to greater productivity and ultimately greater profitability.

(This is an excerpt of a newly relaunched book titled
LOVING Like a Leader now available on Amazon.com