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Love: The Killer App.
Love: The Killer
App
By Kathy Paauw
Published July 2002
"Love is the act of intelligently
and sensibly sharing your knowledge, networks,
and compassion with your business partners."
--Tim Sanders, Chief Solutions Officer,
Yahoo
Yahoo senior executive, Tim Sanders, published
a book on Valentine's Day titled Love Is
the Killer App: How to Win Business and
Influence Friends. In his book he explains
that the road to prosperity is paved with
a commitment to generosity.
He believes that what the business world
needs is less greed and more love. "When
you help others grow to become the best
people that they can be, you are being loving
-- and as a result, you grow.
The most powerful force in business is
love. It's what will help your company grow
and become stronger. It's what will propel
your career forward. It's what will give
you a sense of meaning and satisfaction
in your work."
Sanders believes there are three critical
drivers of professional success. He calls
them the "three elemental particles
of love in business." They are knowledge,
networks, and compassion.
We must learn as much as we can as quickly
as we can and then aggressively share that
knowledge with others. Sanders says "that
means taking the power of ideas seriously,
reading books voraciously, and developing
a system of organizing what you've learned.
To be an impact player in business, you
simply have to know more than most other
people know." One of the tremendous
benefits of sharing your knowledge with
others is that they will be eager to give
you helpful feedback in return. "They'll
tell you which ideas worked out well and
which didn't work out so well.
They'll tell you which contacts were helpful
and which weren't. They'll keep talking
to you. And you'll keep learning from them.
It's a loop."
Our knowledge does not hold much value
if we don't have a network of people to
share it with. Sanders encourages us to
expand our network of people who share our
values, and to connect as many of them with
each other as possible. Success is based
on the people we know. Everyone in our contact
database is a potential partner for everyone
we meet. The value of our network is in
our willingness to share it.
The purpose of collecting contacts is to
give them away - to match them with
other contacts. Sanders notes that those
who appear insignificant today "may
be stars waiting to rise. Someday, they
may become key nodes in your network --
and create a huge opportunity for you. And
they will remember that it was you who was
on their side before everyone else was."
Most important, Sanders says, is to "be
as openly human as you can be and find the
courage to express genuine emotion in the
harried, pressure-filled world of work."
We should behave this way, not because we
expect something in return, but because
it's the right way to behave.
Sanders notes that "the less you expect
in return for acts of professional generosity,
the more you will receive." Your success
is a direct result of their success. Lennon
and McCartney said it better than anyone
else: "In the end, the love you take
is equal to the love you make."
What Sanders has to say resonates with
some teleconference discussions I recently
participated in. The course, called Authentic
Promotion, was offered by my coaching colleague
and friend Molly Gordon, whom I went through
coach training with. I must admit that I
entered into this experience dragging both
feet. You see, I've never particularly enjoyed
marketing - a necessary part of being in
business for oneself. But when I saw the
title "Authentic Promotion," I
was drawn to it.
Authentic promotion is about leading an
authentic life of meaning and purpose, which
ultimately creates the desire and ability
to make a larger contribution to this world.
Authentic promotion becomes an extension
of offering to others the gifts that you
have been given. Nothing can top the deeply
satisfying experience of using our own unique
gifts to improve the world in some meaningful
way.
Authentic promotion - matching your ability
to serve with someone else's needs -- becomes
an act of love as you offer your gifts,
solutions, and talents to others. Wow! This
way of thinking has certainly put a different
spin on "marketing" for me.
When you create a bigger vision for your
life work, you make a conscious choice to
think beyond yourself. You become less concerned
with individual gain and more concerned
about how others will benefit.
This does not mean that your own needs
don't matter. Quite the contrary! Self-care
becomes vital so that your giving comes
from a pure place, without attachment to
what you'll get in return.
I recently came across a website for The
Giraffe Project http://www.giraffe.org
- a nonprofit organization that moves people
to stick their necks out for the common
good. John Graham, executive director, notes
that "people who operate with meaning
in their lives don't find that meaning in
their activities or their positions or their
possessions. They draw it forth from themselves
and put it into their activities, not the
other way around. And the meaning they draw
forth always seems to come from committing
to ideals greater than themselves and their
own needs. It is this commitment that generates
the enthusiasm, passion and power found
in people who lead meaningful lives."
As the USA nears our Independence Day celebration
on July 4th, I feel grateful that I have
the freedom to choose my life work, and
that the work I have chosen is meaningful
to me. I recently wrote down my values as
they relate to my own authentic promotion
plan.
Here are the questions I asked myself,
followed by my responses:
* What do I want for people?
I want people to experience peace and fulfillment
in their lives.
* What do people need in order to have
this?
People need tools to organize their environment
and manage their time well so they can focus
on what's most important to them.
* How can I be of service?
I can help people de-clutter their lives,
teach them how to prioritize and manage
their time, and provide them with the support
they need in order to stay focused on their
priorities.
* What is my larger vision that will
guide my work?
My vision is to provide people with practical
tools and resources they need in order to
stay focused on what's most important.
Are you living an authentic life in what
you do for your life work? Write down your
response to these questions to help you
connect with your values and your vision.
* What do I want for people?
* What do people need in order to have
this?
* How can I be of service?
* What is my larger vision that will
guide my work?
* What can I do to authentically promote
my vision, starting today?
Kathy Paauw, a
certified business/personal coach and professional
organizer, specializes in helping busy executives,
professionals, and entrepreneurs declutter
their schedules, spaces and minds. Contact
her at mailto:orgcoach@gte.net or visit
her website at http://www.orgcoach.net and
learn how you can Find ANYTHING in 5 Seconds
- Guaranteed!
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