Love it? Hate it? Or, just don't care? How we feel about something dramatically affects how we interact with it. When we feel, we care. When we care, things happen.

Companies that are thriving, not just surviving, are much more than a set of ruthlessly efficient and mechanistic processes - they are a social system operated by people for people. The quality of relationships, both inside and outside the organization is a far more important driver of sustainable success or failure than the quality of its control systems. The head is important, but it is the heart that matters most.

If you want your customers to be brand ambassadors and your employees to brag about you to their friends, you need them to not just think you're great - you need them to feel you're great. You need them to love you - and for that, you need them to feel that you love them.

For over a decade Marc Cox has been helping companies whose toxic cultures, miserable employees, and angry customers have all but destroyed them to rebuild their company spirit, discover the business case for love and build an organization that is wonderful to work for, brilliant to do business with and has the mindset of creating memorable employee and customer experiences.

In short, it shows what happens when the love is put back into business.

London born, Marc Cox is the founder of The Company Spirit and originator of the philosophy and approach called the 'Business Case for Love'. Embraced by CEOs and Leadership Teams across the globe, who are looking for a different approach to creating an authentic company culture, the Business Case for Love works because it meets the needs and wants of today's employees and customers.

A way of thinking forged from his own personal and business experiences. First, in advertising as a 'suit' for BBDO, then onto marketing when hired to modernise the image of BHS. These experiences changed the way Marc thought and led to the seeds of what he believes in and shares with his clients on a daily basis.

1;Acknowledgements;6 2;Contents;7 3;List of Figures;9 4;1: Introduction;10 5;Part I: How to Kill the Company Spirit;16 5.1;2: Leadership in the Dock;17 5.2;3: The Backlash: The Establishment Gets a Bloody Nose;24 5.3;4: 'But I have an MBA!';30 5.4;5: Fool's Gold;37 6;Part II: Falling in Love;46 6.1;6: Becoming Bragged About;47 6.2;7: Love Is in the Air;57 6.2.1;Ensuring Image and Experience Match;58 6.2.2;Being Constantly Inside the Heads of Customers;62 6.2.3;Being Brave yet Disciplined;65 6.3;8: Love Is Still in the Air;71 6.3.1;Innovating. Constantly;71 6.3.2;Creating Memorable Customer Experiences;75 6.3.3;Ensuring Personal and Company Values Match;80 6.4;9: The 'Love' Grid;86 6.5;10: The Company Spirit;102 7;Part III: Staying in Love;112 7.1;11: How the Boss Can Be Loved;113 7.1.1;Giving Not Taking;115 7.1.2;Be Self-Aware;116 7.1.3;Goal Orientated, Not Task Orientated;119 7.1.4;Communicate to Engage. Tell Stories;120 7.1.5;Be Curious;122 7.1.6;Heart, Then Head;124 7.2;12: Sharing the Love;130 7.2.1;Measure;137 7.2.2;Review;140 7.2.3;Rewards;143 7.2.4;Teeth;145 7.3;13: Creating Your Own Love Story;149 7.3.1;Phase 1: 'The Kick-Off';150 7.3.1.1;Step 1: Discovery: What's the Gap and Why?;150 7.3.1.2;Step 2: The Company Spirit Event;151 7.3.1.3;Step 3: 'Making Sense of It' Review;153 7.3.2;Phase 2: Engaging the Company with the Company Spirit;154 7.3.3;Phase 3: Embedding the Company Spirit;154 7.3.4;Overall Outputs;154 8;Appendix: Some Love Stories;156 8.1;Louise Barnes, Investor Director at Beaufort & Blake (Previously CEO of Fat Face and Crew Clothing Company);156 8.2;Carl-Viggo Östlund (Co-owner of Juvinum, Board Member of a Number of Scandinavian Companies and Previously CEO of SBAB);157 8.3;Martin Mackay (Worked with Marc on Three Occasions as a Client of 'The Business Case for Love' and in Particular as the Former CEO of the Neverfail Group and the Experior Group);158 8.4;Mats Liedholm (Currently MD of Fazer Lifestyle Foods);159 8.5;Mathew Main (Twice Client of The Company Spirit. First at West Cornwall Pasty Company Then When MD at The Unlimited Company, Part of Simplyhealth);159 9;Index;161