That night Michael sat in his office and thought about what the carpenter said and what it was like as they walked around the home improvement store together. He realized all those people weren’t drawn to J. just because he was great at his work. They were drawn to him because he loved his work and that’s what made him great. They also loved him because he exuded love in everything he did.

Michael had never thought of love as a strategy but now realized how it was missing from his work and business. He had stopped loving his business and started to fear it. He had stopped loving his work and started to dread it. When you love something that love shines through in everything you do and everything you create. He knew that at one point in his career but had stopped living it because of the stress, busyness, and fear that caused him to worry about the outcome instead of loving the journey.

He picked up a book from his desk that Sarah had bought him a few days after he got out of the hospital. The book talked about how busyness and stress are the enemies of great leadership, teamwork, customer service, and careers. It said that science tells us when we are busy and stressed we activate the reptilian part of our brain. This is significant because reptiles do not make decisions based on love. They are all about survival. If they are hungry they will eat you, not love you like the family dog would. They make decisions based on fear and survival. And so do humans when we feel busy and stressed. Loving others is the last thing on our mind when we are stressed. Instead the reptilian part of our brain is thinking about how to just make it through the day, and it will eat anyone for lunch that gets in its way. The book then went on to say that the good news, however, is that we have another part of the brain called the neocortex. The author called it the Positive Dog part of our brain (because of the loving nature of dogs) and we activate it when we love, care, pray, and practice gratitude. In any moment we can override the reptile with the positive dog. We can choose to love people instead of ignoring them. We can choose to slow down instead of rushing. We can choose to be intentional rather than reactionary. And we can take some deep breaths, focus on love and gratitude, and change how we approach the day and the people in our lives.

That’s why the carpenter said do everything with love and gratitude, Michael thought as he looked over at the family dog, Matt, who was lying on the floor at his feet, looking up at him. He thought it was funny they had a dog named Matt but that’s what the rescue shelter said his name was and it stuck. Ever since they brought him home, he had been the most loving dog they ever had. He was the first to greet Michael when he walked in the door. He hung out with him in his office and relished their walks together. Yet, in reading this book, Michael realized that he ignored Matt too much. Too many times he wanted to stop and rub his belly but his reptilian brain would tell him to keep moving, hurry up, eat breakfast, and ignore the dog. Matt would look at him with his big eyes and loving face as if to say, “Love me; it will benefit you more than me,” but Michael didn’t and he felt sad about it.

Michael’s life was based on fear, not love. He knew he needed to change and would start right now. He sat down on the floor and rubbed Matt’s belly. He realized that love isn’t just a feeling. It is a commitment. After all you don’t always feel capable of loving. You don’t always feel loving toward your family, especially when they are stressing you out. You certainly don’t always feel like you love your team. You don’t always feel like taking the time to show others you love them. Loving others is not always convenient or comfortable. Choosing to love, then, meant you were choosing to make a commitment that you will love regardless of how you feel and you will put love into action regardless of your circumstances.

Michael continued to pet Matt. No longer would he ignore him. No longer would he allow busyness, stress, and fear to keep him from loving those he was committed to. He would choose love instead of fear and do everything with love. He would do a better job of loving his team and he would help his company do a better job of loving their clients. The carpenter called it The Way and Michael decided from now on it would be the way he would lead his company and the way his company approached their clients. Yes, love wouldn’t only be a great success strategy for him as a leader. It would be a great strategy for his company, especially in sales and customer service. Now he just had to figure out how they would put love into action so they could keep the clients they had and get a few more clients they needed.