How do people want to be treated? With love, of course.
Robert Frost said, “Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”
John Lennon said, “We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it and water it.”
In other words, how better to create, nurture and sustain relationships than through love.
There are, however, few four letter words in the English language that are more ill-used or beg for definition than the word “love.”
In the mouth and mind of Jesus, the word love means “an act of unselfish regard for the other,” or an act “that wills another’s good.”
Both the philosopher Aristotle and the theologian St. Thomas Aquinas called that kind of love “benevolentia,” from which we have our word “benevolence.”
And the theologian/philosopher Joseph Fletcher defined love as “good will at work in partnership with reason.”
Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, author of “Being God’s Partner: How to Find the Hidden Link between Spirituality and Your Work”, tells a story about the boss of the moving crew that moved his family from Pennsylvania to New York:
“It’s like this, Rabbi: Moving is hard for most people. It’s a very vulnerable time for them. People are nervous about going to a new community, and about having strangers pack their most precious possessions. I think God wants me to treat my customers with love and make them feel that I care about their things and their life. God wants me to help make their changes go smoothly. If I can be happy about it, maybe they can be, too.”
People want to be treated with love.
Let love be the sum and total of all the little things we do, from the way we answer the phone to the way we write a letter (If you are still writing letters!) or write an email, from the way we make a presentation to the way we fulfill an order, from the way we act on Twitter or on Facebook.
Let love be a way of doing business; not a one-time event, but a process of creating a customer environment of information, assurance, comfort and credibility.
Let love be your strategic weapon and it will help to differentiate you and your company in the marketplace.
I believe businesses have never faced a brighter horizon than what is ahead tomorrow. The opportunity for companies that can discern and satisfy the desires of tomorrow’s customers is enormous.
All you need is love.
Interestingly, some people miss out on love because their hearts are misplaced. Letting go of past pains, both done to you or by you is the first step to loving oneself.
ReplyDeleteIt is impossible to give true, unrestricted love to others if you can't love yourself.
Thanks for a great post!
If only this concept would go viral instead of the banal things that populate our airwaves. If we all operated from love we would all be healthier, wealthier and wiser.
ReplyDeleteI try - sometimes find it difficult in my business but I try. Thanks Bruce
ReplyDeleteNice Bruce- So simple, but not so easy to do. Would be nice if all religious got on the bandwagon...and not just for their followers.
ReplyDeleteCandace C. Davenport
http://www.OurLittleBooks.com
I think in order to show love you must be in a healthy place because those who are not healthy have a warped sense of love. All you need is love...is it me or can you hear a song playing?
ReplyDeleteLisa Ann Landry - Corporate Trainer - Unleashing the Genie!
I guess attitude is what allows love or anything else to shine through, Bruce. Sounds like a benevolent dream. The rose took my breath away. Can the love of others, and mine for them be a whisper that transcends?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post, Bruce!! Atticus and I completely subscribe to this attitude, but it's always good to be reminded, and in such a poetic manner. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Bruce! Thanks for the reminder to bring love everywhere we go.
ReplyDeleteLovely. When we approach life from the direction of love it is a smoother journey. Even the bumps and detours are easier to handle. Thank you for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteI believe that is what Heaven will be like - love in action 24/7; God is Love and yet we tend to forget that because of all the negativity and evil in the world. Your blog is a refreshing reminder of the potential we all have to improve our lives and the lives of others. Love is such a misused and sometimes overused word, but in truth it is the greatest power in the Universe.
ReplyDeleteJesus also says to love your brother as you love yourself. For that to work as so ordered, you must love yourself first...or at least simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteWell said Bruce. Love is best expressed as an action.
ReplyDelete(Follow up to email7500 aka Doug Crowe)
ReplyDeleteLoving fully and unconditionally can sometimes be challenging, but once you embrace love without conditions, your heart is filled with joy and it permeates the lives of those around us.