Posted On June 9, 2009 at 2:35 am in Love Leadership News
This week, a friend of mine was surfing the internet and decided to Google ‘Love Leadership’. In addition to my book, he found an author named John Hope Bryant, who was preparing to release a book called, Love Leadership: A New Way to Lead in a Fear-Base World, this August.
I have to admit that my first reaction was not very mature. Love Leadership is my book! I reflected on all the work I had put into it, starting back in 1995, and wondered whether someone else could use the same title. Then I paused and started to think about the intent of my book. My original goal was to advance the idea of a new, emerging leadership style. So the fact that someone else is writing about this tells me that Love Leadership really is ‘what the world needs now’.
When I first started writing my book, I did not get any hits when I Googled ‘Love Leadership’. Now, I get a lot of hits. I actually found a faith-based site called Love Leadership .org. The site’s creator, Jeff Booher, says that the phrase presented itself first to his wife:
This was a brand new concept to us. We had never heard anyone use that exact term before. It may have been used and taught somewhere but it was new to us. Many leadership speakers and coaches danced right up to the concept and all but said “Love Leadership” in their seminars and teaching series, but we had not heard the full term used until recently when we saw that a book had been released by a leadership speaker from Canada with the same title (www.LoveLeadership.com).
I’m the guy from Canada, by the way. Jeff & Kim Booher have released their own book titled, The Emergence of Love Leadership: A Working Model.
My book comes from a humanistic rather than a religious context, and I don’t yet know what slant Bryant’s book will take. But it looks like we all support the advance of a new leadership style – which takes me back to the original reason for my book. So now instead of feeling competitive, I am excited that the concept is taking root. Turns out that Love Leadership is infectious.
Posted by Gregg Cochlan · Tags: Gregg Cochlan, John Hope Bryant, Love Leadership News · No Comments »
Posted On August 12, 2008 at 1:02 am in Love Leadership, Love Leadership News
As a Canadian citizen I have always been proud of the fact that we Canadians have long been known as a peaceful nation. In 1957, the year I was born, Prime Minster Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize. As I grew up, this stuck with me, and I came to identify being Canadian with being a “keeper of peace.” Prime Minster Pearson once said: “It is very important for Canadians to consider our responsibility to help build peace in our communities and world.” I have always agreed that this is our role in the world.
So when Canadian troops where sent to help fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, I was, in truth, upset. I know there is some logic to the argument some make that we have an obligation to support the US and other Allied forces in their battle. But I personally felt there must or should be a different way in which we could participate.
The other day on the radio I heard a Canadian soldier who had just returned from Afghanistan. His name was Lieutenant Colonel Robert Walker. He was being interviewed on how Canadians are approaching this war. He was asked how the Canadian forces are approaching the Afghan people, given that insurgents are blended in with the general population so that hard to tell who’s who. Walker responded that the only way they can do this right is to attempt to treat all Afghan people with respect and to protect their dignity. I thought “Wow, what an amazing response!”
General Bern Loeffke, a well recognized US General, once told me a story about a solder he led who was extremely religious. When they were on a specific mission were there could potentially be causalities to the opposing army, the soldier volunteered to lead the charge. It surprised General Loeffke that a religious, loving soldier would volunteer to do this. “When asked, the soldier responded with a statement that stunned and stuck with me,” the General said. He replied that the least beastly person should do the beastly things.”
With this in my mind I listened to the Canadian soldier’s radio interview and reflected on Prime Minster Pearson. Even trough I still wish we were not in this conflict with the Taliban. I at least derive some comfort from the thought that Canadians are “the least beastly to do these beastly things.”
In Love Leadership. protecting and respecting the dignity and humanity of all is what Love Leaders aspire to. It feels to me that the leadership of the Canadian do keep this uppermost in their minds and that this attitude does show up in their actions. For this I am both grateful and proud.
Posted by Gregg Cochlan · Tags: canada · No Comments »
Posted On July 12, 2008 at 12:44 am in Love Leadership News
Several months ago I signed up for”Google Analytics.” This is extraordinarily valuable service that Goggle provides, free of charge, to all interested websites. With this program you can determine the number of visitors to your site, how long each visitor remains on the site, and how many pages each visits, along with other information. As a non-techie, I am just blown away at what this program can tell you! And, while my intent here is not to offer a testimonial for Google Analytics, and if anyone at Google wants to use it as such – BE MY GUEST!
What I do want to share with you was some on the data I got with regard to www.loveleadership.com. It simply stunned (and of course delighted) me that people from more than 22 countries visited my site! About 80% of my visitors were from Canada, which is not surprising, since I am from Canada, with 15 % from the US., and 80% of those from New York State. Getting so many visitors from across the world, and from New York as well, was interesting. Where do you think the next highest number of visitors might be from? You might guess he UK, Mexico or Australia. In fact, the next highest number of visitor was from – IRAN! Wow!
I would have never guessed Iran. In fact that might have been my last guess. This has me wondering why my site, but it does get you wondering why 8 people in Iran be searching a site about love Leadership. When I daydream a bit and think perhaps the notion of a new kind of leadership, or the longing for it, is universal. This increases my passion and determination to make this new model a “new normal” universally, in any and every way I possibly can.
When I initially discussed my book’s working title with Judy Katz, my editor and publicist, the subtitle was its O.K. Judy strongly suggested I change the subtitle to “What the World Needs Now.” My original reaction was that I was not sure this book could make such an ambitious claim. But as we progressed further into the heart of the book, I felt more confident that yes, this was what the world needs. And today I am more convinced of that than ever.
Other surprising visits came from people in Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia and China. Do you believe people everywhere are ready for Love leadership? I sure do!
Posted by Gregg Cochlan · Tags: Love Leadership News · No Comments »
