Why Love is Important in Business

Posted on by Real Leaders

Samantha Thomas (above), founder of The Love Summit, explains why love is a viable factor for improving the triple bottom line of business, and for solving the most pressing social, environmental and economic issues of our time.

What is your first memory that made you want to make a positive difference in the world?

My experience in school as a child. I remember being puzzled by the fact that some children were treated better by teachers than others. I also recall being troubled by the lack of acceptance and inclusion for others by my peers. I always felt the urge to include and notice people, especially when they weren’t being included or seen by others. I wanted everyone to be seen and appreciated—to know that they mattered.

Who has been the greatest inspiration for the work you do today, and why?

My extraordinary mother. She has taught me about the importance of living the acts of love and compassion for as long as I can remember. I consider her wisdom to be the most useful education of my life so far, as I’ve learned that exercising the qualities of love and compassion not only enables others to realize their full potential—it also allows me to understand people better, which I consider one of the greatest assets in life.

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” – Lao Tzu

When we let go of our pre-conceived notions about the way we think a person should be, we set them (and ourselves) free from the falsehood of limits, boundaries and restrictions. By acting with compassion, we open the door for everyone around us to be fully seen and understood, to be recognized as important and meaningful in this world—something that is so very crucial to each human’s happiness and wellbeing.

What is the one thing you want everyone to know about the Love Summit?

The Love Summit addresses the underlying cause of the most pressing social, environmental and economic problems we face in the world today. When we look at inequity in society, the degradation of our environment, or the lack of stability in our global economy—these issues can all be traced back to an absence of love and compassion for people and the planet.

As we continue to invest in renewable energy and advance technology, it’s critical to remember that a truly evolved, sustainable world is only possible if we can start treating people and the planet from a place of love.

What role does love play in business?

Love doesn’t just play a role in business, it’s the key to business. Business is simply about relationships—the relationships with all the people we work with, buy from and sell to. All healthy relationships are, in one way or another, based on love.

If that sounds fluffy to you, consider the fact that employees who feel love perform better. This performance results in higher engagement. Higher engagement means increased productivity, and that leads to higher productivity and increased profits. It’s very simple. Humans are smart, but we have this self-inflicting tendency to over-complicate things. Business is simple. Life is simple. Be a good person. Treat each other with kindness, love and compassion. And take a little patience with you along the way, because being kind, loving and compassionate is not always easy—it requires lots of strength and courage.

What is your definition of a Real Leader?

A real leader always does the right thing, even when it isn’t easy. She acts from a place of compassion, inclusiveness and integrity. A real leader works to create more leaders, not more followers.

When is the next Love Summit, and how do we get tickets?

The Love Summit is coming up next month, on October 12-13 at LPK Brand Innovation Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tickets can be purchased here.

 

After the Hurricane: Keeping Pets Safe and Healthy

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Millions of people in Florida were forced to evacuate their homes before Hurricane Irma made landfall last weekend, and many brought their pets with them.

As people prepare to return to their homes, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is encouraging pet owners to take steps to ensure the health and well-being of their pets, in what could be potentially dangerous or stressful environments.

When returning home with pets following a disaster, the AVMA recommends the following:

  • Survey the area inside and outside your home to identify sharp objects, dangerous materials, dangerous wildlife, contaminated water, downed power lines or other hazards.
  • Do not allow pets to roam free outdoors until the area is safe for them to do so. They could encounter dangerous wildlife and debris if allowed outside unsupervised and unrestrained. In addition, familiar scents and landmarks may have changed, and this can confuse your pets.
  • Allow uninterrupted rest and sleep to allow your pets to recover from the trauma and stress of the evacuation and disaster.
  • The disruption of routine activities can be the biggest cause of stress for your pets, so try to re-establish a normal schedule as quickly as you can.
  • Comfort each other. The simple act of petting and snuggling can reduce anxiety for both people and pets.
  • If you notice any signs of stress, discomfort, or illness in your pets, contact your veterinarian to schedule a checkup.

For more information on pets and disasters, visit the AVMA website at avma.org/PetReady.

 

The Iron Fish That Will Make You Stronger

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Iron deficiency affects nearly two billion people. That’s one-third of the world’s population. Your body needs iron to function and is an essential nutrient that helps your vital organs get the oxygen they need.

Signs of iron deficiency include pale skin, general fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness and difficulty concentrating.

A 300-year-old Chinese practice of cooking with cast iron has been revived by Dr. Gavin Armstrong, founder of Lucky Iron Fish. His simple solution? A US$25 spoon-sized iron fish that you place inside your cooking pot. It doesn’t sound very appetizing, but the iron released into food provides a significant portion of recommended daily intake. “Using a cast iron pan will do the job to a degree,” says Armstrong. “But many people have thrown them away as they’re too heavy and difficult to clean.” The arrival of Teflon-coated, aluminum pots and pans has also moved consumers towards convenience, without realizing the loss of iron from their old cooking utensils.

“In Cambodia, where we started our iron-deficiency work,  people didn’t want to put an ugly piece of iron in their meal,” explains Armstrong. “It seemed as if they were cooking with rubbish. The symbol of a fish is considered lucky by Cambodians and that’s how our iron fish was born.”

Now in 66 countries, the brand is finding universal appeal, except in India, where they are experimenting with a leaf-shaped piece of iron because most people are vegetarian.  “People are tired of taking artificial supplements,” says Armstrong. “Boiling the fish for 10 minutes will give you a safe daily intake.” Amazingly, families in Cambodia – where clinical trials have reduced anemia by 46% –  are still using their fish more than five years later. Every fish sold sees another one being donated to a family in need.
To date, 100,000 families have benefited globally.

www.luckyironfish.com

 

The App That Finds Empty Office Space

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werk.place is an app that monetizes underutilized spaces of private clubs and  corporate offices for the mutual benefit of the clubs, private corporations and members of select organizations. 

Have you noticed the empty meeting rooms in office buildings and clubs?

The sharing economy has alerted entrepreneurs to reimagine and to monetize such under-utilized or dead space via technology. Vacation Timeshare was an early adopter of this business model, and more recently Airbnb revolutionized empty rooms in homes around the world – putting idle space to work.

As a member of the Harmonie Club in Manhattan, Malcolm Elvey was familiar with its facilities and saw an opportunity that would benefit both members and future guests. Clubs benefit from increased income and business travelers benefit from entree to prestigious private institutions. Via werk.place business travelers can avail themselves of prestigious accommodation, board rooms, meeting rooms and catering.

werk.place is a superlative free platform that helps business travelers identify and reserve appropriate services and accommodations on short notice. It is both an app and a website: It allows users to list or to rent boardrooms, conference rooms, offices and event spaces. It’s the solution for busy professionals, especially those who travel at short notice.

“I knew many travelers would see the benefits of finding a high-end meeting place in an unfamiliar city attractive,” says Elvey. “The flip-side is that clubs, companies and even restaurants have suddenly realized they can make money on space only used occasionally.”

As an entrepreneur, Elvey has always been disruptive and sought new ways of doing things. “You should ask lots of questions, but also learn to listen,” he says. “What excites me is finding a great team with complementary skills and sufficient capital to execute realistic ideas.” Among his characteristics he believes having a curious mind has been the most helpful – it’s what led him to ask probing questions about the costs involved at the institutions he frequented.

Based on Elvey’s knowledge, clubs would surely jump at the opportunity to increase occupancy rates on idle space to compensate for the recurring astronomical overheads each month.

But what about the executive standing on a busy street corner with a make-or-break meeting in a few hours?

“Rather than running a business, I like to think I’m helping to solve a frequent social problem,” commented Elvey. “The app can be used to make an immediate reservation or one that is weeks away; much as you would reserve a car or hotel.”

Those looking for space are given a choice based on their current location or can search a city destination in advance. Room size, occupancy and amenities are shown alongside reviews, comments and rankings from previous users.

For now, Elvey is targeting high-profile groups, such as The Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) as trust and confidentiality are essential ingredients of the business plan.

“If you’re interviewing a prospective employee or partner, or working on a confidential deal, you need a safe space where the discussion remains in the room, and no one will reveal who you’ve met with,” explained Elvey.

Another bonus for high-end app users is access to facilities of participating private clubs: tennis, squash, golf and on-site catering. Adding a few bucks to a meeting space reservation can add a day of leisure for you and your clients – instead of forking out thousands for membership. And, of course, access to a prestigious club or office carries the chance of bumping into unexpected people – networking opportunities that are always good for new business.

The werk.place app can be found on the Apple store

 

Real Leaders And Sustainable Brands Redefine The Good Life

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Real Leaders, the world’s first sustainable business & leadership magazine, and Sustainable Brands, the premier global community of business innovators, have joined forces to produce a special edition of Real Leaders – highlighting stories that inspire the future.

You can view the magazine and read some of the highlights here:

  • How KoAnn Skryzniarz, Founder of Sustainable Brands, is creating future brands by ‘Redefining the Good Life.’
  • How Elon Musk and Tesla just made your car and NASA obsolete.
  • How Terracycle is aiming to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all.
  • Three steps to creating your own personal leadership brand and sharing it with the world.
  • And much more!

Never before in history have so many CEOs, political leaders, companies and celebrities come together to lead and inspire a more sustainable future for the benefit of every person on the planet. Self-interest and narrow business agendas that focus only on profit have given way to inclusive thinking, a mindset that we are convinced will become the norm and deliver bigger profits down the line.

One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals drawn up by the United Nations is “Partnerships for the Goals.” It’s a goal that both Real Leaders and Sustainable Brands have taken to heart. Two different companies, generating different products and services, can still find common ground if they share the same values.

“Cynicism is the enemy of the good,” says KoAnn Skryzniarz, CEO of Sustainable Brands. “We must focus on the positive and never forget that any action, big or small, in support of a better world helps tip the future in the right direction.”

In 2010 Real Leaders realized the world needed tipping in the right direction. We were in desperate need of far-sighted leadership, and no publication existed at that time which dedicated itself entirely to this vital topic – one that is still relevant and urgent today.

Real Leaders filled this gap, with a mission to inspire better leaders for a better world, and now serves a global community of business leaders who represent 10% of the global economy. We seek stories of leaders who have thrived by tackling social and environmental issues. We celebrate their achievements and share them with the world. Our challenge to you is: How will you inspire the future?

Since 2006, Sustainable Brands has inspired the future by engaging and preparing business leaders to prosper by showing the path to an abundant future through sustainable business practice. They provide a platform for thought leaders at live and online events and host peer-to-peer learning groups – all aimed at growing and inspiring brands, design professionals and social entrepreneurs.

Our partnership aims to create something bigger – a journey of like-minded brands that seeks to unearth new possibilities. Will you join us?

 

The Digital Side of Leadership

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Digital transformation has become the buzzword of our age, and while the economy is becoming ever more digital, the demands on management are constantly growing.

The expectations on managers in respect of their digitization skills are increasing, and this is expressed clearly in the vacancies that are waiting to be filled. And not just in the IT-related job descriptions: requirements are also tending increasingly towards digitization in many positions quite unrelated to IT. Most specialists are classically trained and have not experienced digitization in a focused manner or via training. In their leadership role, they are now being tested in a new and completely different manner.

What is digital competence?

The most important thing is the ability to continuously acquire and implement new knowledge. It’s also crucial in a complex world to keep track of the situation, identify problems and work towards solutions. With regard to the strategic alignment of a company, executives are in demand from the planning stage onwards: to set the course of the company with their expertise and know-how. Once digital transformations are implemented in the company, managers need to be able to support the strategy, lead the employees and, in the best case, to inspire them even.

A “digital” executive needs certain skills

Helping employees adapt to the new situation is one of the most important tasks of a manager in the digital environment. Specifically, this means that they need to ensure that their staff receive additional training quickly and reshape tasks so that the full potential of an employee comes into play.
The classic skills such as empathy, assertiveness and complexity management remain important, as well as technical skills. But in an environment where new jobs are being created constantly with new, modified requirements, digital competence is vital.

Going digital – getting there

Most companies offer their employees training, professional change management with external support. This gets employees fully involved and, at the same time, provides them the freedom to make and implement innovations. In doing so, they create new and sometimes unexpected opportunities. There is a downside, however: there is often too little space, time and budget available, and no one really knows for sure how much time remains for the transformation. This is certainly the greatest risk – not being fast enough. But where it succeeds, digitization will bring more flexibility into the labour market. The workplace itself plays an ever-smaller role, because nowadays it is possible to exchange data almost everywhere via digital channels. And this exchange remains very important – even in the digital age – because a manager still works in close cooperation with his or her employees, regardless of whether they possess these digital skills or not.

Andreas Wartenberg has 25 years of experience as a personnel consultant and fills management positions in the technology sector and other industries.

 

Healthy Eating is Key to Our Productivity

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Healthy eating habits may preserve cognitive function and reduce the risk of dementia.

A group of U.S. scientists have found that, among nearly 6,000 older adults in a Health and Retirement Study, those who consistently followed diets long known to contribute to cardiovascular health were also more likely to maintain strong cognitive function in old age. They found that sticking to the Mediterranean diet was associated with 30 to 35 percent lower risk of cognitive impairment in healthy older adults. In fact, the investigators discovered that those with healthier diets exhibited meaningful preservation of cognitive function.  

  • The Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets were originally developed or codified to help improve cardiovascular health.
  • A hybrid of these diets, called the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, or MIND diet, is gaining attention for its potential positive effects on preserving cognitive function and reducing dementia risk in older individuals. A 2015 study found that individuals adhering to this diet exhibited less cognitive decline as they aged.

Other diet-related studies reported at AAIC 2017 included:

  • Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that – in a group of more than 2,200 older adults – people sticking to a Healthy Nordic Diet (including non-root vegetables, certain fruits, fish and poultry) enjoyed better cognitive status than individuals who ate a less healthy diet.
  • From more than 7,000 participants in the U.S.-based Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study, researchers found that older women who ate diets traditionally thought of as heart-healthy, in particular the MIND Diet, were less likely to develop dementia.
  • A team of researchers at Columbia University presented data suggesting that poor diet may promote premature signs of brain aging through inflammatory mechanisms, which were also associated with smaller brain volume.

“Although the idea that a healthy diet can help protect against cognitive decline as we age is not new, the size and length of these four studies demonstrate how powerful good dietary practices may be in maintaining brain health and function,” said Keith Fargo, PhD, Alzheimer’s Association Director of Scientific Programs and Outreach.

“That said, we must understand that what we eat is just one part of the puzzle. Adapting our lifestyles as we get older – for example by exercising regularly, watching what we eat and engaging in lifelong learning – is important in order to maximize the potential to reduce risk of cognitive decline and dementia.”

 

71% of Washington DC Chefs Are Immigrants

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If the proposed immigrant and travel ban in the U.S. goes ahead, the capital – Washington DC – may go hungry.

According to DistrictMeasured.com, the website of the District of Colombia’s Office of Revenue Analysis, a whopping 71% of chefs in the Washington D.C. area are immigrants. With so many big mouths to feed, and proper nutrition needed for making important decisions and passing laws, you can’t help but wonder what would happen should the kitchens run out of qualified staff – a country cannot run on homemade sandwiches alone.

Jobs that involve cooking and preparing food may feature highly in the capital city, but other sectors are heavily reliant on immigrant labor too. Other immigrant-heavy jobs include 80% of carpenters, 57% of childcare workers, 51% nurses and psychiatric workers and 46% of economists. Think about that the next time you build a house in D.C., drop your kids at childcare, check your bank balance and then need psychiatric help after doing so. 

Immigrants make up nearly a quarter of the Washington region’s population but account for a disproportionate number of entrepreneurs – 33% of business owners were born outside the U.S.

The question needs to be asked: If the Washington area suddenly lost its entire foreign-born population, what would happen to the local economy?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Chinese “Take Over America” Campaign for 4th of July

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A marketing agency in Shenzhen has given the world a glimpse of what the world could look like if China took over – by creating U.S. currency featuring the faces of Chinese emperors.

Timed to coincided with the yearly Fourth of July celebrations – American Independence Day – the date was chosen for maximum impact. Chinese marketing company ITTIZ and Asian business advisors Global from Asia sent out red envelopes containing U.S. banknotes to 500 of the biggest companies in Shenzhen, a commercial area of China that links it to Hong Kong.

All the bills were actual U.S. currency notes, ranging in value from $1 to $100, with a removable sticker of a Chinese emperor covering the respective images of U.S presidents that appear on the notes. *

ITTIZ came up with the idea for the campaign a few months ago when considering the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. Sean Davis, CEO of ITTIZ, said that with the current state of globalization and the general interconnectedness of countries, the likelihood of China’s rise is as probable as ever, and pulling back isn’t a reasonable option. 

The company wanted to create something that taught companies in Shenzhen the value of thinking creatively, and so the financial, political, competitive and comedic aspect of this campaign became appealing to them.

 

Along with support from Mike Michelini, CEO of Global from Asia, the campaign came to life. Each note is customized and titled, “Are you ready to take over America?”

The marketing company believes this was a creative way to share the importance of marketing with Chinese companies – by tying the idea directly to currency, revenues, and overseas competition. The campaign is expected to reach a wide audience spanning various industries. Thus far, there has been a range of reaction, with the majority finding the campaign humorous.

“We see Shenzhen becoming a technology hub for the 21st century,” says Davis. We feel that creative ideas will only accelerate this movement. The future is coming at us quickly, everything in today’s economy is up for grabs, and Shenzhen is ready to grab hold and take it.”

* The currency is not defaced in a way that would violate Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code.

 

Is This the Tesla of Smart Watches?

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A Swiss start-up has created the world’s first kinetic self-charging smart watch.

After more than three years of intensive research and development, Swiss company, Sequent, has launched a smart watch with a breakthrough technology that may redefine the future of all smart devices. Launching on kickstarter.com on 5 July 2017, the revolutionary “SuperCharger” hybrid smart watch contains a major breakthrough in technology inside. This new generation of smart watch has a kinetic self-charging battery system, which provides infinite power supply.

Sequent reckons that it has not only solved a major problem of the smart watch industry, which suffers from insufficient battery supply for its devices, but also created a device that generates 100% clean energy. 

“We are the first ones to master the transformation of kinetic “100% clean” energy into infinite electrical energy to power a smart watch.” says CEO Petra Guhl. “Some have already said that we’ll become the Tesla of the smart watch and wearable industry, as we share the same vision.”

The best news for consumers is the end of socket charging, the search for a charging cord or trying to find a stockist to buy those easy-to-lose miniature coin batteries.

sequentwatch.com

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