Fixing All Your Leadership Challenges Comes Down to 5 Timeless Principles

I’ve discovered five leadership principles to end your turnover problems, increase team performance, and ultimately grow your business.

This is the first post in my Humane Leadership series: long-form articles aimed at teaching you the timeless principles of radical ‘love in action,’ the best way for leaders and organizations to meet the greatest needs of their stakeholders.

If you’re joining me for the first time - welcome! You’ve arrived at a place dedicated to helping you grow as a leader. To get started, click the red button below, and I’ll do everything I can to provide you with insights, tools, and pathways to help you lead with greater clarity, impact, and care.

---

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive."

— Dalai Lama

The word “love” is rarely used at work. It’s off-putting and squishy, simply taboo in the business world. We might love our work, and we might love our coworkers and customers, but we rarely think of love as an effective business or management strategy.

Why is that? Because the business world wrongly assumes love to be an emotion rather than a behavior or an action. But the future of work, counter to today’s fear-based, command-and-control environments prevalent since the Industrial Revolution, is human. And love, the most powerful force on the planet, is the machine that powers teams, cultures, and entire organizations to thrive and outperform the competition in this age of technological advancement and AI.

Photo by David Travis on Unsplash

‘Humane Leadership’

This is the premise for my new book, which will be released in March 2025. Humane Leadership: Lead with Radical Love, Be a Kick-Ass Boss is a completely counterintuitive leadership guide that gives readers a rare inside look into actionable love—the verb, not the emotion—as the strategy used by the most successful leaders of the most profitable companies worldwide.

Stephen M. R. Covey, The New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Speed of Trust, says, “This pivotal book is vitally needed today as so many are more doubtful and starved for belonging than ever before. A life-altering read!”

Showcased in interviews with the world’s top influencers, executives, CEOs, researchers, and authors, plus my own experiences coaching organizations, I’ve uncovered the best available data, case studies, and best-in-class leadership behaviors and practices for “leading with love.” I present a clear and compelling case that leaders who choose to lead with practical and actionable love have a competitive advantage.

The Five Principles

To that end, Humane Leadership explains the five practical principles of love in action for business leaders:

• Patience

• Kindness

• Humility

• Advocacy

• Trustworthiness

I found that these timeless principles have been tested and validated by science and tried and proven in the business world. I’ve also seen them modeled by the best servant leaders I’ve coached over two decades. We know them to be disruptive principles that lead to great relationships, superior results, and unbeatable performance in the workplace.

For example, a study conducted at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania found that emotional cultures fueled by what the study’s authors call “companionate love” influence major business outcomes, including less absenteeism and burnout and more employee satisfaction and teamwork, as well as better financial performance.

One practice of love under the Kindness chapter is meaningful employee recognition, which many leaders are familiar with. However, few practice it with focus and intent.

As I’ve written previously, senior leaders must first remember that employee recognition isn’t so much about “programs” related to awards, perks, and financial incentives. That’s the cherry on top. Recognition has everything to do with human interaction–how leaders view their employees as valued contributors and how employees feel seen and heard. There’s love behind it. And the overarching goal is to make it meaningful.

Click here 👉 for a Step-by-Step Guide to Employee Recognition That Drives Results, according to research.

As the workplace becomes steeped in the digital age and AI becomes ever-present, it has become evident that the workplace has changed forever. As such, leadership thinking must change accordingly. And one of the key lessons is that being human—i.e., leading with humanity—will be crucial in the years to come as a counterbalance to the digitization of work and workers. However, what will never change is the fact that human beings are wired at their core to connect relationally, to collaborate socially, and to experience positive emotions. To that end, the five practical principles as the basis for Humane Leadership will help ensure that organizations worldwide can meet the greatest human needs of all their stakeholders.

Join me in this important movement and help me to spread the word. And spread more love…at work.

P.S. What’s your take on leading with love? I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments.

---

If you’re joining me for the first time - welcome! You’ve arrived at a place dedicated to helping you grow as a leader. To get started, click the red button below, and I’ll do everything I can to provide you with insights, tools, and pathways to help you lead with greater clarity, impact, and care.

For those ready to go deeper, here are a few ways I can support your leadership journey:

1. 🎙️Listen to the Love in Action Podcast: Join deep, engaging conversations with top business experts and explore how practical love and care are great for people and profits. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

2. 📖 Pre-Order Humane Leadership: Leadership needs a shift — from fear-based control to a more humane approach built on empathy, integrity, and purpose. Humane Leadership offers a fresh, compelling vision for leading in a way that empowers your team, fosters lasting loyalty, and drives outstanding business success. Pre-order your copy today!

3. 🛠️ Curious About Coaching? Become a Substack Founding Member and receive two 30-minute, one-on-one coaching sessions. It’s a practical, low-commitment way to explore how coaching can support your leadership growth.

4. 🚀 Leadership Coaching: Most coaching focuses on what leaders do - but real change starts with who you are. My coaching helps you build deep self-awareness, expand your influence, and create meaningful, lasting impact. Schedule a 30-Minute Discovery call to learn more.

---

In Case You Missed It

• Welcome to Your Leadership Development Journey (why I started Substack)

• Weekly Challenge #5: How to Display Authenticity (micro-coaching tip)

• How to Create a Memorable and Productive Onboarding Experience for New Hires