"Love is the Killer App" by Tim Sanders

Most problems can be solved with a cuddle.

- My thoughts on and summary of Love is the Killer App by Tim Sanders.

I have a small, ok maybe larger than small, love for Pingu the little clay-mation penguin, who mischievously goes through his day, but always ends up resolving his life problems with a cuddle from mom, dad, sister or a friend. This Pingu life lesson - ‘Most problems can be solved with a cuddle’ has been my personal email signature ever since I came across it years ago. It is a simple philosophy that although may at first appear unrealistic and dreamy holds a lot more truth than people admit. The simple concept of compassion too often, especially in business, is unfortunately seen as a weakness or as having an ulterior motive.

For me it comes down to the simple fact that I feel good when I make people smile, when I can help them or when I do something nice for them. When I am telling a customer I want to help them, it is actually because I want to help them, and surprisingly I do actually care. Don’t get me wrong I do understand the bigger picture, business school did succeed in teaching me all the technical points of business, and importantly how to read a balance sheet. It is the non-technical parts that I sadly feel many people neglect that can help their businesses achieve the healthy balance sheets resulting from partnerships and genuine relationships. Then Tim Sanders wrote Love is the Killer App and spelled it out as simply as it can be explained. There are MANY people I would like to read this book; however, I feel that those people would be too skeptical to consider reading a business book with the word ‘love’ in the title. Sadly those are the people who I feel need it the most.

The concept is simple. A killer app simply defined by Sanders is ‘an excellent new idea that either supercedes an existing idea or establishes a new category in its field. It soon becomes so popular that it devastates the original business model.’ People who follow his philosophy are considered Lovecats and use the intangibles of knowledge, networks and compassion to drive their everyday activities. Using anecdotes of his own life, knowledge and experiences Sanders is able to adequately demonstrate the benefits gained by following the Lovecat way of business. These benefits are:

You build an outstanding brand as a person
You create an experience
You have access to people’s attention
You harness the power of positive presumption
You receive exceptional feedback
You gain personal satisfaction

Who wouldn’t want all of these benefits??? And how does one become a Lovecat and reap the benefits of this positive way of doing business? Simply by focussing on the three intangibles of knowledge, networks and compassion.

Knowledge – ‘Everything you have learned and continue to learn.’ Read as much as you can as often as you can, and follow Sanders’ simple four step program designed to make knowledge work for you:

aggregation – read the right books for you
encoding – find ‘MyPlaces’ to read; take notes on the ‘Big Thoughts’ of the books
processing – review what you have read (personally this is the point that triggered the creation of my blog)
application – the reason we acquire knowledge is to share it. Use it, talk to people about it, help people by sharing ‘Big Thoughts’ and books that are relevant to their situations (this point only strengthened my desire to begin reviewing the books I read in a blog for my own and for my network’s reference)

‘The best part about sharing knowledge: The more you apply it, the more you get in return.’ The application step in the knowledge process is one of the most significant points I feel in the path to becoming a Lovecat. When you are committed to and using your knowledge to help yourself, your business and your business contacts, then you are actively investing in everybody’s best interests.

Network – Be a business matchmaker. ‘The purpose of collecting contacts is to give them away – to match them with other contacts.’ Lovecats should be sharing their address books, and continuously thinking about how each person they meet could benefit from knowing someone else they already know. Follow the simple system of 1) collecting 2) connecting and 3) disappearing; in order to get the most out of your network.

Compassion – perhaps the most difficult of all the intangibles to approach in the workplace. Be human and show affection. It is ok to show genuine emotional involvement in what you are doing in your business life; you do not stop being human during business hours. Be nice to people and do not be afraid to show that you do care. Sanders does a very good job at carefully explaining the boundaries and common sense you need to apply when venturing into this very ‘touchy’ subject. He asks ‘Why should we show compassion in the workplace?’ and answers by elaborating on the following points:

- There is tremendous opportunity for your compassion to make a difference in how people view you, and how they view themselves.
- Compassion will lead to a better experience with your bizmates
- By expressing your compassion, you create an experience that people remember. When people remember you, it’s good for business.
- Compassion creates commitment: which keeps you focused on building your knowledge and network.
- Compassion buys forgiveness.

Expressing compassion through salutations, conversations, and quick opps, is a talent cultivated by experience. Learning to gauge when that colleague or customer is ready for a hug takes great skill, and should be approached carefully, obviously crossing any lines is not appropriate. Executed properly, however, genuine compassion and affection with the proper intentions can go a long way in creating binding business relationships.

Overall the book has obviously inspired me, and has resulted in me taking the time to share my thoughts and interpretations on Sanders’ ‘Big Thoughts.’ It is just nice to know that someone else out there believes that "Nice, Smart People Succeed."

PS. For all those out there that ever had any doubt, I will usually take a hug from anyone anytime, so if you are contemplating the world of the Lovecat, feel free to stop by my desk, try it out and give me a hug. (But don’t be fooled, I will put you in your place pretty quick if you cross a line, but then ironically may give you a hug to make everything better again, seeing as most problems can be solved with a cuddle.)