Origins: “You must bring love to work”

The seed for Grounded Impact was planted in 2010. That November, SJF Institute and Green for All announced the first Green Jobs Awards, recognizing ten entrepreneurial companies that were creating accessible, quality jobs while generating positive environmental benefits. The keynote speaker for the event was Trish Karter, the Founder and CEO of Dancing Deer Baking Company, which at the time was known for its employee-friendly workplace culture and support systems. Trish’s talk was “The Ten Things I Learned Growing Up in an Entrepreneurial Family” – quite apropos for the event’s locale near Wall Street in lower Manhattan. The first nine things were what one would expect, on business practices and hard realities. Then came the tenth: “You must bring love to work.”

The moment those words came out of her mouth, I had a shiver. “Love” is not a word uttered much in lower Manhattan workspaces, at least not the word that refers to what she was talking about – not romantic love, or “I love that!” love, but the fierce love that is deeply compassionate, cares for our fellow human beings even in the midst of our foibles and failures, and speaks truth to power. The room shimmered and my throat caught. My heart was touched deeply, and my head wondered what was going to happen next. Were the eye rolls beginning around me?

To my deep joy, they were not. In fact, as each entrepreneur gave remarks after receiving their award, they each shared how they brought love to work – how that principle was core to their personal mission and the focus and success of their businesses. The room shimmered for me for the rest of that night, as I had a glimpse of what could be. The beauty and inspiration and beloved community that is created when we lead with love.

That evening, I learned that this potential is indeed always here, and always present, if we can just stay connected to it. And that naming it, unabashedly, matters. Trish, in the midst of her sharp and realistic business principle litany, named love and its leading role in her life and work – and that statement itself changed the room. It created a safe space for everyone else to identify it, describe it, and be inspired to share it and embody it.

From there, I started wondering – how do we create safe space to talk about what really matters in the business context? This matters on both an individual and a corporate level. The separation of our most dear human values – love, kindness, peace – from our business life has been a disaster.  Indeed, all the false dualities - between business and life, work and play, humans and nature, body and spirit, the list goes on – have led us to our current state of climate crisis, perpetual war and irreparable harm to our fellow humans and creatures and the planet itself, societal polarization, and a pandemic of isolation and loneliness that no screen can ever fix.

Missions, impact, outcomes – all are well and good, but even mission-driven enterprises operate in denial of the deeper questions. How much is enough? What is this for? What matters and really makes us happy? What do we really need? What do we really want?

These are not economic or business questions – they are spiritual questions. I founded Grounded Impact to bring love back into the room – your office, your conference room, the boardroom. Connection – to ourselves, our Earth home, our community, and something greater than ourselves (however we experience or name it) – is simply necessary for both human survival and human flourishing. Grounded Impact is here to support the comprehensive flourishing of individuals and enterprises, with strategic advisory for emerging initiatives working to build a life-affirming economy and society, and with spiritually grounded support to help both individuals and organizations stay connected and flourish, in any context.