Choose Love Not Fear: How the Best Leaders Build Cultures of Engagement and Innovation that Unleash Human Potential
Why, despite $50B a year in investment and decades of effort, have we made so little progress in developing better leaders?
What separates exemplary leaders from the merely good ones?
If innovation is so valuable, why do so many leaders talk of the need for creativity but then punish creative expression?
How must leaders change to be effective in a world where technology has rendered leaders more necessary and less powerful?
Practical. Challenging. Well-researched and unflinchingly candid, this book - based on a decade-long study - provides leaders at all levels an actionable framework for building cultures that support higher levels of engagement and innovation. Choose Love, Not Fear challenges readers to overcome a history of fear-based processes that unnecessarily render us less capable, restrict what we see, and narrow what we believe is possible. This book shows how the best leaders build teams where love and positive emotion are the foundation of making the rhetoric of engagement a reality.
Choosing to lead from love and not fear does not guarantee that a team will become highly engaged and innovative. It is, however as the authors note, the inescapable first step in unleashing human potential.
“Choosing to lead from love and not fear is perhaps the most important choice that leaders make as they begin to build an effective team culture.
Choosing love, and asking others to do the same, is the inescapable first step toward achieving greatness.”
Endorsed by leading business experts and professionals:
“Every leader should read this book! Gary and Ryan Heil have distilled the essence of great teams and great leaders into a few short, but profound principles. Choose Love, Not Fear shows a unique and compelling way to build exceptional organizations. Wisdom on every page.”
William H. McRaven, Admiral, US Navy (Retired)
“Every few years, we need to be reminded of the truth that when leadership conflicts with human virtue, something is wrong with leadership. “Choose Love Not Fear” is such a reminder, and it couldn’t come at a better time. Read this book and apply it—you will be happier and more successful for all the right reasons.”
Arthur Brooks, PhD
Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School
Arthur C. Patterson Faculty Fellow, Harvard Business School
“Gary and Ryan Heil have issued a clarion call for a new approach to leadership in our offices, classrooms, and playing fields. They show that relying on intimidation and control is not only inhumane — it’s also ineffective. The very best leaders today must embrace intrinsic motivation, vulnerability, and, yes, love. Fear, we now know, makes us dumber. This remarkable book will make you smarter.”
Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of DRIVE, WHEN, and TO SELL IS HUMAN
“LOVE. HUMILITY. SERVICE. These are the fundamental building blocks of great leaders and great teams. In Choose Love Not Fear, the authors have highlighted the choices every leader must consider if they hope to more fully engage every member of their teams. The message of this book goes to the very heart of great leadership in the digital age; This is a must-read for anyone that aspires to lead.
Alan Mulally, Former President & CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Information, Space and Defense Systems, and The Ford Motor Company
“LOVE. HUMILITY. SERVICE. These are the fundamental building blocks of great leaders and great teams. In Choose Love Not Fear, the authors have highlighted the choices every leader must consider if they hope to more fully engage every member of their teams. The message of this book goes to the very heart of great leadership in the digital age; This is a must-read for anyone that aspires to lead.”
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize winning historian
“I’ve worked with the Heils for more than a decade. Their passion for understanding what makes a great leader has inspired me… this book uncovers what today’s leaders must focus on!!! Fascinating read.”
- Mark King, CEO, Taco Bell
“No matter where you are in your journey as a leader, Choose Love, Not Fear is a must read. Gary and Ryan Heil have the courage and conviction to speak about the importance of love in the workplace, proving that taking care of business and taking care of hearts are not mutually exclusive. In compelling and inspiring fashion the Heils describe the importance of building a culture of respect and trust in which people are fully engaged and share in a common vision; the importance of believing in yourself and believing in your team. Leadership is clearly a choice. Choose to lead from love not fear. “
Pamela Landwirth, CEO, Give Kids the World Village