Episode 006: The Business Case for Love

Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks to Marc Cox, president of The Company Spirit and the author of The Business Case For Love: How Companies Get Bragged About Today.

Cox believes that the best companies succeed in part because they love their customers, love their employees, and build authentic relationships with both of these critical cohorts. He urges leaders to turn up the volume on emotional engagement in order to drive loyalty and boost profits.

Bryce shares some examples from his own work of how successful leaders used love to not only motivate their employees, but also to rebuild damaged relationships with suppliers, dealers, and other key stakeholders.

Top 10 Takeaways:

[2:00] Marc makes the business case for love.

[3:10] Bryce talks about how Alan Mulally used love as a leadership tool.

[5:02] Employees want to work for a company they believe in and can be proud of.

[7:00] Customers want something more than a transactional experience.

[8:03] BrewDog is an example of a company that “gets it.”

[9:17] Gymshark is another one.

[16:50] The best companies are those that remain rooted in their founding spirit.

[19:49] Marc talks about how companies that have lost that mojo can get it back again.

[28:10] Companies lose their way because leaders fail to recognize the emotional component of their businesses.

[32:02] Marc explains how you justify the ROI in love.

Mentioned in this episode: