In 1992, at the age of 26, John Hope Bryant was running a successful financial services firm when the Los Angeles riots broke out. After the violence and chaos subsided, Bryant saw that his community needed a "hand up, not a handout," so he founded Operation HOPE, an organization dedicated to helping low-wealth communities attain financial literacy empowerment. Today, Bryant is a sought-after speaker recognized for his leadership and service around the world.
In Love Leadership, Bryant chronicles his story of transformation from a teenager growing up in South Los Angeles to the leader of one of the most impressive antipoverty organizations in the country, and shares the unlikely ingredient for his leadership success: love. He shows leaders how to break away from the long-standing leadership style—one based on fear. Instead, he suggests that the best way to lead in both your professional and personal life is to figure out what you have to give others in a world obsessed with the question "what do I get?"
Drawing on his remarkable success story and on interviews with love-based leaders such as Former President Bill Clinton, Bill George, and Andrew Young, Bryant outlines the five laws of love-based leadership:
Loss creates leaders: There can be no inner growth without the pain of legitimate suffering.
Fear fails: Leading through fear is antiquated and self-defeating, a crippling indulgence that we can no longer afford.
Love makes money: The expression of love in business—creating long-term relationships with customers and employees based on caring for others and doing good—makes everyone wealthy.
Vulnerability is power: When you open up, people open up to you. Real leaders know that vulnerability is not a weakness, but rather their greatest strength.
Giving is getting: Leaders give, followers take. Giving inspires loyalty, attracts good people, confers peace of mind, and lies at the core of true wealth.
Aimed at a new generation of leaders and extremely relevant in today's complex and fast-moving world, Love Leadership is a bold and contrarian guide to leadership and success.