Soup: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture

Chapter 26. Love

As Nancy walked briskly back to her office, she thought about what Grandma had said and noticed that love kept coming up in their discussions. Grandma talked about stirring the pot with love and loving your people like members of your family. It was obviously the most important ingredient in making great soup, and it was something her father had talked a lot about as a coach. In the old days, he would say, you could yell at people and achieve success by instilling fear. Not anymore. Today's athletes were more interested in having a relationship with their coaches, and most of all they wanted to know you cared about them. Nancy, too, had observed this growing trend in the business world and had taken many seminars that discussed how younger generations were redefining the workplace and leadership in a good way. They didn't just want to work somewhere. They wanted to create a life within their jobs. This meant having meaningful relationships and interactions with leaders who communicated with them with transparency and authenticity.

It occurred to Nancy that the number one question her team members and employees were asking was, "Can I trust you, and do you care about me?" In fact, it's the number one question we're all asking of each other in the world. If people know that they can trust you and that you care about them, then they will follow you to the ends of the earth. Yet Nancy wasn't sure how to apply this at work. Treating employees like family, while a lofty ...