De La Salle High School in Concord California has long been recognised within the USA for its extraordinary football tradition. The team held the national record of a 151- game winning streak spanning from 1992 to 2004, more than doubling the previous record of 72.

But that’s not the extraordinary bit.

The extraordinary bit is what lies behind all the records, trophies and championships.

What Coach Bob Ladouceu created was a team of leaders who each believed that the most important man on the team was the one standing next to them. He fostered a culture,  a brotherhood which focused these young men on the “we” not the “me”

He puts the success of his teams down to one simple killer ingredient.

Love.

Yes, that’s right love.

You are probably not a football coach, so what does all of this have to do with you?

Well, this concept of love isn’t just for great football teams – it’s just as applicable to you in your business, career or life for that matter.

In 1972 writer and philosopher Milton Mayeroff wrote “Love is the selfless promotion of the growth of the other.”

In his book ‘Love Is The Killer App‘ former Yahoo! Chief Solutions Officer Tim Sanders discusses how in today’s world ‘love’ can be the point of difference in your business or organisation.

He adds his own definition of love in the context of business as “The act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your intangibles with your business partners”

Tim describes the intangibles as knowledge, network and compassion.

Knowledge

This  is what you have learned and what you continue to you learn through your experience, self education and discovery.

Knowledge represents everything which you have picked up on the job, all you have taught yourself through reading books, magazines or articles, and it includes everything you’ve been exposed to training courses you have attended.

Today knowledge is everywhere around us and accessible at the click of a button. You can download  a book or audio programme in seconds or even watch presentations on YouTube on your smartphone.

Instead of just thinking ‘value add’, think ‘knowledge add’ – “Ask what information, ideas or knowledge can I share with my network to help them solve their problems and become even better?”

Network

This is your entire web of relationships. Everyone in your address book is a potential partner for you or for other people you will meet. There is space for everyone in this ever expanding business universe.

Note we are talking about relationships here and not just connections – there is a difference.

How many people are you connected to on Linkedin for example? Of those how many do you actually invest in anytime with? How many have you followed up and conversations with?

Relationships start when someone becomes more than a number in your phonebook, a name on a friend list or number on a connection infographic.

Knowledge is your power source but relationships are your nerve centre. You get value from your knowledge but it only comes alive when you share it with your network.

Compassion 

This is your unique ability to reach out with warmth, empathy and love to another person. Knowledge and relationships take time but compassion is a human quality which we can all share now.

We can reach out to colleagues, friends and associates to offer support, words of encouragement or even a shoulder to cry on. You can’t buy that on the App Store.

In this high tech world we live in, there is nothing that can replace true human compassion. There will always be tough times to come in our lives and we need to be surrounded by good people to ensure that we emerge victorious.

Love can be a powerful tool in developing your business, enhancing your and improving your life.

Is it just about love? No, of course winning and achieving are important but that’s a by -product not the end game.

It’s about way more than that.

Focusing your energy less on the prize and more on the growth of others  – business associates, employees or family members is the key to improving performance and achieving extraordinary results.

Ask yourself. do you  show love in your business, to your team or with your business partners?

Are you sharing your intangibles and helping others grow ?

Do you see the ‘We” or is it all about the “Me” ?