A few days ago (February 14th) we celebrated Valentine’s Day. It is a public holiday of Christian origin that commemorates the good works carried out by Valentine of Rome, related to the universal concept of love and happiness. In many countries this commemoration is celebrated, but always linked to the concept of love at the couple level, at the level of people who are in love.
In the professional field I do not know if there is any similar celebration. And it surprises me, because love is a very powerful weapon in the business and professional field. In my opinion, there are 3 essential loves to succeed in your professional activity. These are:
- Love for your clients: it is perhaps the first big decision you should make in your professional strategy. What type of clients do you want to work with? What is the niche market you want to target? Clients are sovereign and choose the company they prefer. In most markets there are many companies that compete and, loving customers and ensuring that they are fully satisfied with our product and / or service is essential. So, think carefully about what kind of clients you want to work with. If you don’t love them, it will be difficult for you to compete successfully. Because, as Michael Leboeuf, North American writer and professor specialized in management, said, “a satisfied customer is always the best strategy of all.” So, or you love your customers deeply, or you’re going to have a hard time.
- Love for your workers and collaborators: loving your work team is also an essential requirement to succeed on a professional level. In my opinion, it is perhaps something more important than loving your customers. Having the right staff, taking care of them, and motivating them so that they can give their best, will be essential to have a truly successful professional project. As well-known businessman Richard Branson says, “Customers don’t come first. The first thing is your workers. If you take good care of your workers, they will take care of your clients; it’s that simple”. And when we talk about taking care of your workers and collaborators, I also mean training them and helping them to grow professionally. In this sense, I quote Branson again with another phrase that I love: “Train your workers well so they can leave; treat them well enough that they don’t want to.” In short, if you are not able to love your workers it will be very difficult for you to be successful in your professional activity. So, spend time thinking and deciding which workers you want to collaborate with … and which ones you don’t.
- Love of the work you do: the last love in the professional field and for me, the most important. Loving work you do. Only by dedicating yourself to a professional activity that you really love, you can achieve great professional performance. It is almost impossible to deliver a high level of performance on an certain activity if you don’t like it. What’s more, you may be able to do adequately in activities you are not passionate about, but you will only deliver excellent performance if you really love the work you do. But if you really want to make a great impact and get top performance, find an activity you really love. Not only will you get great results, but you will also be really happy in the exercise of your professional activity. As Confucius said, “find a job that you are passionate about and you will not have to work a day in your life”.
So, if you really want to be successful and happy in your professional activity, you must love your clients, love your employees and collaborators and above all, love the work you do.
Happy Valentine’s day!
Image source https://comoenamorarle.com/
