Built to Beat Chaos

CHAPTER 14Someone Who Cares

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4

When it comes to building effective organizations, what is the human relationship equivalent of the bonding force that holds atoms together? That is the question every leader must answer. And it is the subject of this chapter.

Whatever that force is, it has to be powerful enough to overcome the unique desires of the people, which tend to push us apart. In my four decades of experience it is by far the greatest leadership challenge of all.

The Bible speaks a great deal about the forces that bind people together. There are four, one of which is especially applicable to us as leaders in a business setting.

Four Types of Relational Bonding

The latter part of the Bible is written in Greek. Four different Greek words are translated or alluded to as love in English. These words represent four different types of love:

• Family love. The Greek word is storge. This is the natural affection that occurs in a healthy family. We are instinctually bonded and have a source of trust and protection. You are born into this kind of relationship.
• Friendship love. The Greek word is phileo. This represents close relations you choose to develop as opposed to being born into. Healthy friendships are based on mutual and reciprocal behaviors of respect, trust, and shared interests. These relationships can come and go.
• Romantic, sexual love. The Greek word is eros. This attraction ...