In the first decade of my career (in brand marketing), I don’t ever recall asking myself this question: “what’s love got to do with it?” I lived in the world of market share, media buys & brand recognition. Love aint got nothin’ to do with that. Or so I thought. Spending the last 15 years as a pastor of a local church has (thankfully) corrected this misconception; I wish I had known then (as a business leader) what I know now.
A famous 1st century leader said something that, 2000 years later, still rings so true. He wrote (and I’m paraphrasing) “you can have incredible talent, incredible gifting and even magnificent virtue, but if you don’t have love, it doesn’t mean anything”.
Empirically, we know this to be true, especially when it comes to being famous, notable or highly-regarded by others.
We have seen others make the move from FAMOUS to (IN)FAMOUS by being very un-loving.
A famous celebrity is seen publicly berating a restaurant server and it goes viral.
A highly-regarded and “winning” coach is reported to use belittling and bullying tactics to get the best from his players.
A CEO of a world-renowned brand faces a lawsuit from some of her past employees because of the harsh working conditions she created.
Even in the fickle court of public opinion, it seems that Love has got “a lot to do with it”.
Let’s define Love for a moment. We say we love pizza, or our favorite sports team. That’s not what we’re talking about here. Neither are we talking about love as romantic feelings or sexual desire.
Let’s define Love like this (follow my logic here): Love is the opposite of Pride.
Pride can be both Arrogance (“damn, I’m good”) or Insecurity (“damn, I’m no good”). Either way, pride at its core is an obsession with self. Whether we think very highly or very poorly of ourselves.
Love, on the other hand, is a forgetfulness of self in favour of thinking about others first.
Love sacrifices personal gain and personal priority for the good and priority of others.
Love sees whatever influence or power it has as something to be used in the service of others (especially the others who have little influence or power).
In a sense, this is what puts LOVE and the pursuit of FAME at odds with each other.
When we are driven by fame - the desire to be famous, to be recognized, noticed, highly-regarded or widely known - it is very hard to put others first.
I may want to treat others well but if I have to choose between me and you, fame will tell me who gets priority.
I may recognize that I’m not self-made or independently successful, but fame will tell me whose name should be mentioned first or who gets the credit.
I may say I’m a free thinker, but fame will tell me that the opinions of others should dictate my decisions.
I may say I value generosity and positively impacting others, but fame will tell me which job to choose or company to keep.
When it comes to the work we do, words like “recognition” and “accolades” sound good and concrete whereas “love” sounds fuzzy and irrelevant. But don’t be deceived. Love is as concrete as the ground we walk on and as relevant as the air we breathe. It looks like personal sacrifice, radical generosity and fighting for the recognition of others.
As you enter today, head into that meeting, wrestle with that decision, ask yourself: What’s love got to do with this?
