Moshe’s Blog

How You Treat People Makes the “Golden Rule” Your Most Powerful Leadership Tool

Would You Be Happy Working for You?

My daughter was proposing ideas for my next book about love-powered leadership. She focused on how we treat people and boiled it down to this simple and powerful litmus test: Would you be happy working for you?

This brings us to the Golden Rule and the first principle of the Amare Way for leaders, which you’ve heard a million times: Treat people well, the way you’d want to be treated if you were them. And this applies not just to your employees, but to all your stakeholders, including yourself. [FYI, read a summary of all 7 Amare Way principles in this concise and free e-book here].

Leaders that excel at treating people well consistently practice two key skills: empathy and compassion. Empathy means you really “get” the other person’s perspective by imagining being in their shoes. Compassion means you understand and care about the suffering of others. Research shows that empathy and compassion in business lead to greater loyalty and higher performance ratings.

1. How do you treat people in your work?

2. What situations might lead you to dehumanize people and treat them as simply property?

3. Would you be happy working for you?

8 Amare Steps to Treat People Better & Live the Golden Rule

1. Put yourself in their shoes. Ask yourself how you would react if what you did or said to a colleague or customer was being done or said to you—if you were in their position. This is empathy at work.

2. Filter your words. Before you speak, submit your words to what some call the three gates of speech. Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?

3. Slow down. In tough situations, take a long breath in and out before you react. This helps you ground yourself and find compassion.

4. Own your mistakes. If you did or said something that was out of alignment, unnecessarily harsh, or disrespectful, acknowledge it, apologize, and correct yourself.

5. Offer compassion. If a colleague or customer is going through a rough time, rather than merely seeing their problem as a disruptor to business, show them you care by asking what’s going on, expressing kind words, or offer some one-on-one time.

6. Remember Amare principles. In tough situations, keep in mind your commitment to Amare or similar principles, which focus on uplifting and connecting through the energy of love.

7. Write a manifesto. Consider formalizing your commitments into a manifesto for your organization. Here’s a starting point. This sets the tone for everyone around you to treat others well.

8. Be good to yourself. Choose to think better feeling things about yourself. Show yourself compassion. Don’t expect perfection of yourself or others. It all starts with self-love.

Imagine that you cherish and honor the “Golden Rule” and make it the backbone of your organizational culture. That way, when you take the litmus test above, your answer would be a wholehearted YES; you would be delighted to work for you because of how well you treat people. And likely, most others would too.

Help Create the Amare Leadership Handbook!

I’m creating a how-to handbook for love-powered leaders based on the last three years of this newsletter, and am now building a team of co-creaters and reviewers. Requirements: passion, honesty, commitment, a little time (not much). Interested? Contact me here.