Love is a rarely used word at work. Most of us have come to implicitly understand that acting with love simply isn’t professional.

But that all feels a bit outdated and dare I say… easy. I was chatting with a fabulous fellow consultant the other day and she shared how she really doesn’t like the word ‘professional’ as a measure for behaviours; that it feels particularly loaded and coded. I’m a big fan of any shift to shake off patriarchal language which inevitably permeates the workplace and ultimately serves nobody.

Foregrounding love still feels at once radical and naive. For example, how many charities include love as one of their values? How many refer to loving in their vision and mission?

In ‘All About Love: New Visons’, bell hooks suggests that “Embracing love ethic means that we utilize all dimensions of love in our daily lives.” and that “The principles of a love ethic are care, respect, knowledge, integrity and the will to cooperate.”. The principles of a love ethic are the behaviours we expressly want and expect in work. And yet aiming for the end point – to act with love – is often a bridge too far.

On charities’ very purpose, bell hooks once again says it best; “There can be no love without justice. Until we live in a culture that not only respects but also upholds basic civil rights for children, most children will not know love.”.

So, at a time that love is in the air, perhaps we can embrace the courageous power of leading with love.