Leading with love

I was asked to join a panel at a conference recently with the discussion subject of humility in leadership.   The Chair of the panel used a great phrase that I noted down – “Management is focusing on nuts and bolts but Leadership is focusing on hearts and minds.”

I think this is so true!

A few years ago I attended a workshop with a colleague ran by Marc Cox, the author of a book called The Business Case for Love.  He argues that love, typically considered an emotion reserved for personal relationships has a critical place in business. Marc defines love as care, respect, empathy, trust, and a sense of shared purpose. In his book, he focuses on the impact this has on a companies brand, developing a deep emotional connection that leads customers and team members to advocate for the brand voluntarily.

Patricia Poppe is another leader who has talked extensively on the subject of leading with love.  She is the CEO of a US energy company and is known for bringing a deeply human centric and emotionally intelligent approach to corporate leadership, emphasising that love has a place in the boardroom!

Her “leading with love” approach to leadership focuses on authenticity, trust, care for people, and a purpose-driven culture. She believes that by putting people first in every case – the team members, customers, and communities, leaders can achieve better performance and business results.

But why don’t all leaders do this?

Cox suggests that many organisations suffer from a "humanity gap"—they lack soul, connection, and genuine concern for the people they serve. Bridging this gap, he asserts, requires leadership willing to embrace vulnerability, humility, and emotional intelligence—qualities often sadly lacking in corporate environments.

And if leaders wanted to do it, how do they change?

Poppe’s simple philosophy to achieve this is summarised as  “People First, Always”Poppe insists that organisations thrive when leaders treat their team members as whole people, not just as workers or resources. This means genuinely caring about their well-being, development, and personal purpose. 

She prioritises employee engagement and emotional safety, believing that a fulfilled and motivated workforce is essential to customer satisfaction and operational excellence.

As Trillion Dollar coach, Bill Campbell used to say –

 “Your title makes you a manager your people make you a leader”

I am pretty sure that those following Cox and Poppe’s philosophy have people choosing them as their leader.

As always would value your thoughts and any examples where you have seen great examples of leading with love?

People will not remember what you said but how you made them feel

Last time I wrote about a jaw dropping customer experience JDCE and we should also aspire to a a JDPE

Your title makes you a manager your people make you a leader

He encourages leaders to see love not as a liability, but as a strategic asset that builds loyalty, inspires advocacy, and drives sustainable performance in a fast-changing world. Cox makes the case that love is not just a “soft” or intangible concept. He provides metrics and tools for measuring the impact of love in business, including Net Promoter Scores, employee engagement surveys, and customer satisfaction indexes.

The book is grounded in both empirical research and real-world examples. Cox cites case studies from companies like Zappos, Patagonia, Southwest Airlines, and The Ritz-Carlton, all of which are consistently praised for their customer and employee loyalty. These companies exhibit behaviors consistent with love: they listen, respond, show appreciation, and prioritize people over short-term gains. The result? Higher employee engagement, lower churn, stronger customer advocacy, and sustainable business success.

A central framework in the book is what Cox calls the "Love-in-Business Model," a practical roadmap for embedding love into organizational culture. This model includes elements like authentic leadership, aligned values, consistent communication, and meaningful experiences for customers and employees alike. Cox argues that by aligning internal culture with external brand promises, organizations can build trust and emotional resonance, leading to measurable performance benefits.

Another key theme is the generational shift in expectations. Millennials and Gen Z demand authenticity, purpose, and emotional intelligence from the brands they support and the companies they work for. In an age where social media amplifies customer experiences—both good and bad—companies that evoke emotional loyalty and inspire genuine “bragging” benefit from powerful, free word-of-mouth marketing.

Cox also critiques conventional business wisdom focused on mechanistic, metrics-driven management. He suggests that many organizations suffer from a "humanity gap"—they lack soul, connection, and genuine concern for the people they serve. Bridging this gap, he asserts, requires leadership willing to embrace vulnerability, humility, and emotional intelligence—qualities often undervalued in corporate environments.

Importantly, Cox makes the case that love is not just a “soft” or intangible concept. He provides metrics and tools for measuring the impact of love in business, including Net Promoter Scores, employee engagement surveys, and customer satisfaction indexes. He underscores that the ROI of love is seen in long-term customer retention, brand advocacy, and a resilient workforce.

In conclusion, The Business Case for Love is a compelling call to humanize business by prioritizing authentic relationships over transactional interactions. Cox encourages leaders to see love not as a liability, but as a strategic asset that builds loyalty, inspires advocacy, and drives sustainable performance in a fast-changing world.

Patricia Poppe – has a Jon index – believes in leading with love

Certainly! Here's a summary of Patricia Poppe’s approach to leading with love, based on her leadership philosophy and public remarks, especially during her time as CEO of Consumers Energy and now as CEO of PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric):

Patricia Poppe’s Leadership Philosophy: Leading with Love

Patricia Poppe is known for bringing a deeply human-centered and emotionally intelligent approach to corporate leadership, emphasizing that love has a place in the boardroom. Her approach to leadership—often summarized as “leading with love”—focuses on authenticity, trust, care for people, and a purpose-driven culture. She believes that by putting people first—employees, customers, and communities—leaders can achieve better performance, innovation, and resilience.

Core Tenets of Poppe’s “Leading with Love” Approach

1. People First, AlwaysPoppe insists that organizations thrive when leaders treat their employees as whole people—not just as workers or resources. This means genuinely caring about their well-being, development, and personal purpose. At both Consumers Energy and PG&E, she prioritized employee engagement and emotional safety, believing that a fulfilled and motivated workforce is essential to customer satisfaction and operational excellence.

2. Purpose-Driven CultureA major part of her leadership is aligning the company’s mission with a greater societal good. At PG&E, she has framed the company’s work as essential to public safety and climate progress, elevating the sense of purpose among employees. When people understand how their work matters, they bring more heart and energy to it.

3. Authenticity and VulnerabilityPoppe frequently emphasizes the importance of authentic leadership, which includes being vulnerable, admitting mistakes, and showing humility. She often says, “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” Her transparency builds trust, especially in high-stakes or crisis situations—like her current role at PG&E, a utility under immense scrutiny following wildfire liabilities.

4. Listening and EmpathyA hallmark of her leadership is deep listening—making space for employees and customers to speak, and responding with empathy. At Consumers Energy, she implemented systems for employee voice and emphasized collaborative problem-solving, believing that people closest to the work often have the best ideas.

5. Leading with Both Head and HeartPoppe doesn’t shy away from tough decisions, but she blends strategic discipline with emotional intelligence. She believes in holding people accountable, but doing so with respect and compassion. For her, love in leadership is not about avoiding conflict—it’s about leading with clarity, connection, and courage.

6. Operational Excellence Through CareUnder her leadership, she links operational success directly to a culture of care. For instance, she often says that safety and performance improve when people feel loved—because they’re more engaged, careful, and committed to the mission.

Impact of Her Approach

Patricia Poppe’s leadership style has gained respect across industries for its unusual blend of emotional depth and strategic rigor. Her tenure at Consumers Energy was marked by record employee satisfaction and improved operational metrics. At PG&E, she is working to restore public trust by creating a culture of transparency, accountability, and care—a tall order in a crisis-ridden utility, but one she approaches with her trademark optimism and empathy.

Here’s a comparison between Patricia Poppe’s “Leading with Love” philosophy and Marc A. Cox’s ideas from The Business Case for Love:

1. Core Premise

• Marc A. Cox:Argues that love—expressed through care, empathy, and trust—should be a strategic business tool to drive customer loyalty, employee engagement, and sustainable growth. Love creates “Brand Love,” a key competitive advantage.

• Patricia Poppe:Believes love is a personal leadership principle that starts at the top and transforms culture. Leading with love means genuinely caring for people, helping them find purpose, and treating them with dignity, especially in difficult times.

✅ Shared Belief: Love is not soft or naïve—it’s a powerful force for long-term performance and trust.

2. Focus Area

• Cox:Focuses on organizational systems and brand strategy, encouraging companies to create customer and employee experiences that evoke loyalty and advocacy.

• Poppe:Emphasizes leadership behavior and internal culture, advocating for emotionally intelligent leadership and purpose-driven operations.

✅ Overlap: Both see culture and emotional connection as the foundation for business performance.

3. Approach to Culture

• Cox:Recommends a framework (the “Love-in-Business Model”) that aligns values, leadership, and communication to build trust externally and internally.

• Poppe:Leads by example—she shows love through authentic communication, listening, and transparency, creating a trickle-down cultural shift.

✅ Key Difference: Cox provides a structured, brand-driven model; Poppe leads from personal conviction, often in turnaround or crisis contexts.

4. Emotional Intelligence

• Cox:Views emotional intelligence as a competitive advantage, helping brands stand out in noisy, commoditized markets.

• Poppe:Sees emotional intelligence as non-negotiable for modern leadership, especially in industries where trust and human safety are at stake.

✅ Common Ground: Both consider emotional connection a business imperative, not a luxury.

5. Metrics & Measurement

• Cox:Provides tools and KPIs to measure the ROI of love, like NPS, employee engagement scores, and brand sentiment.

• Poppe:Less focused on formal metrics of love; instead, she links culture to operational performance (e.g., safety incidents, reliability, service quality).

✅ Distinction: Cox quantifies love as a business asset; Poppe shows how love changes behavior, which changes results.

6. Audience

• Cox:Speaks to marketers, brand leaders, and executives interested in building customer-centered businesses.

• Poppe:Models love for CEOs and senior leaders navigating complexity, emphasizing the human side of transformation and crisis.

Conclusion:

Marc A. Cox and Patricia Poppe offer complementary visions of how love can transform business. Cox provides a strategic framework for integrating love into brand and culture, while Poppe embodies it in leadership practice, especially during organizational change. Both challenge the outdated notion that love and business don’t mix—and prove that when people feel loved, they perform better, stay longer, and advocate louder.

People will not remember what you said but how you made them feel

Last time I wrote about a jaw dropping customer experience JDCE and we should also aspire to a a JDPE

Your title makes you a manager your people make you a leader