Love Is Just Damn Good for Business: Do What You Love in the Service of People Who Love What You Do
Steve Farber
McGraw Hill (September 2019)

If you don’t care about what you do and how well you do it, why should anyone else?

Years ago when Teresa Amabile delivered the commencement address at Stanford, she urged the graduates to do what they love because that is probably what they do best. Steve Farber takes that insight a step further: “Ask the questions that matter to you. Listen for the answers. And then do what you love in the service of people who love what you do.”

It is important to keep in mind that loving what you do does not mean you love what must be done — thousands of hours of deep, deliberate practice — in order to do it better than almost anyone else can.  With very rare exception, peak performers work harder and work smarter than anyone else. They don’t “love” calluses, pulled muscles, migraine headaches, ACLs, and falling short of their own high standards.  They do “love” what their efforts and attitude make possible.

I have had countless encounters with people who really loved what they did. They didn’t “sell” anything, including the need to love and be loved. They saw themselves as helpers, as advisors, as what Farber suggests, as servants. Their expertise as well as (yes) their enthusiasm earned my confidence and then trust. One of them was an older woman who sold lawnmowers in a Lowe’s store.  I didn’t need one but was tempted to purchase one because of her passion about making certain everyone had exactly the right lawnmower.

Here are five brief excerpts from Farber’s narrative that suggest the essence of what he thinks is so damn good in the business world. If his narrative is viewed as a journey, think of each as a brief encounter along the way:

o From an email received from a manager of LAN technicians: “Hey Farber, you know that love stuff you were talking about? You’re right on, man. I’ve been telling my guys this since the day I became a manager ten years ago. I’ve told my technicians to make the customer absolutely love you. Take-you-home-to-dinner love you. Meet the wife-and-kids love you. Because if the customers love you, you can blow up their building and they’ll say, ‘Accidents happen.'”  (Page 7)

o From Richard Bolles, author of What Color Is Your Parachute, as told to one of Farber’s friends: “When I see people who really feel called to their work. It doesn’t mean there are not stretches when they are tediously plodding through the day. But, basically, they get up alive and excited about what they are doing. They have some sense that there is something unique they have to contribute to the world. This makes them very excited.” (Pages 42-43)

o Farber was reminded of an important lesson during a family visit to the United Kingdom. “The British, I discovered, don’t engage in the practice we call ‘customer service.’ They deliver what they call ‘customer care.’ That term alone should tell you you something about the British approach to business. They don’t just serve you. They care for you, which is really what happens when you do what you love in the service of people — you care for them. It’s an emotional investment in the otther person. Care, in this context, is defined as ‘to feel love or liking for.’ And if Webster’s equates care with love, that’s fine with me.” (Page 90)

o Here’s another memorable reminder from that trip to the UK: ” We need to realize that service is not servitude; it is not menial labor. To care for people, no matter, no matter how difficult or impolite they may be, is a way of life for all of us, whether we realize it or not. We all care for somebody. We care for clients. We care for family, for community, for friends,. And by doing so consistently and more intentionally, we can, even if in only small ways, have a positive impact on one another’s lives.” (Page 91)

o Carl Hammerschlag, author of The Theft of the Spirit, defines a visionary as “one who learns to see in the dark, not the one who describes it.” Farber’s response: “We have become very, very good at describing the darkness around us, particularly at work…The role of the Extreme Leader is not to deny the darkness. It’s not to turn a blind eye to the problems and the challenges. It’s just the opposite. The Extreme Leader acknowledges the challenges and then guides us into a meaningful, constructive conversation about hows to change things, about what the future can be like, about how we can create it together.

“That is the act of shared love. That is when vision becomes alive and powerful.” (Pages 137-138)

Steve Farber offers this advice to people who did not love or even like what they had been doing to earn a living but do now and are thriving. “Be totally unapologetic  for the money you’re earning. Be totally unapologetic for the joy you’re experiencing. Be totally unapologetic for the impact you’re making on the world for the better. But aspire to do all of them.

“That’s what we’re built to do, in my opinion. And that’s at the very heart of why I believe Love Is Just Damn Good for Business. Because love is the secret sauce that makes it all possible.”

That same advice can also be invaluable to those now preparing for a career in business or who have only recently embarked upon one.