The Heart of Business

By David Frayer, an EO Oklahoma member and president of The Key

Most businesses measure success based on revenue, profit and shareholders’ return. We all still need financial success to continue what we do, but the exciting changes I’ve seen in my life and business mean that another measure of success is needed: Is your heart successful?

Yes, I said “heart.”

Because when you work from your heart and inspire your employees to do the same, something truly exciting happens. People get happy, their energy turns into amazing customer service and customers can feel it all. Then your business grows and it can become a light to your world.

Here’s an example of what happens in my business now, something unusually usual, something typically untypical. In our Finance Department, a woman is talking to a customer who is sad, nervous and feeling down. They lost their job and don’t know how they’ll come up with next month’s car payment. The Finance person understands all too well what the loss of a job can do to a person, a family, a neighborhood, a city. So the Finance Department person listens, with heart, and responds.

The Finance person tells the customer to enter. We will produce a new resume for them. We will help them find a job to apply for. We will get them new clothes for the interview. We will smile. We will tell them things are going to get better. We will offer a hug.

This is the environment I helped create. These are the people who fill me with gratitude.

So, for your business, try this: Invite your staff to share their deepest loves, fees, dreams and goals in life in a safe, seminar or roundtable session environment. Then tell them that their values are what the company really is, after all. Tell them that their values are what will help us to succeed. Tell them that their values will be what your customers will truly experience. Treat everyone as family members.

Next, make your brand all about these “soft” skills and deeply human values and get ready because, your world will take notice, doubt and question you. Wait a while. Keep going. By then, the world will come running for the oasis you have created.

But it has to start with you. Have a daily practice such as reading, meditating, exercising, writing, or painting. And always question yourself: Who am I? What do I really want? Does love feel better than competition? Does compassion feel better than fear or mistrust?

I asked myself, then I asked my managers and employees and now, my world and business have changed in so many amazing ways. My managers and I have read, studied, watched, listened and went to so many seminars and toured some successful companies to witness their internal cultures. We become tremendously inspired.

I’ve changed my life. I’ve changed my business. And so my suggestion to you is this: Change yourself and then change your business. I would love to hear how your journey develops.