It is the last day of Love Fest 2013, a virtual event that Dr. Maria Church and Laura Wilson convened so that 13 speakers could share how they infuse love into their work on sports, business, sales, leadership and more. When Maria asked if I’d be interested in sharing my thoughts on how love is part of my work focused on ‘ordinary’ Main Street women, democracy and leadership, I hesitated.

You see, I’m a data-driven person, the kind of person who wants to see evidence. People I work with expect to hear me ask, “How do we know what’s working?” And, as strategies are jointly developed, “How will we measure it?” My ears are fairly full of cotton when I hear that something can’t be measured, there’s always a way.

Blame my law school education if you wish, but it also feels very natural for me to spot risks, identify what’s wrong. A longtime colleague and friend told me recently that I have a “preternatural ability to immediately see what needs fixing.” (I think you meant that as a compliment, right Jeannie?)

The truth is, there’s a lot of proof that people are starving for more love at home, in their communities, at work, and in the world.

Here in the United States, for example, people are hungry to increase what the Fetzer Institute study called “meaningful love”: being compassionate, helping others, sacrifices, acts of kindness, anticipating needs, respect, spending time, and community involvement… Fetzer conducted a Survey of Love and Forgiveness in American Society in 2010 and asked Americans about meaningful love:

• 94% of the general population surveyed recognized that more meaningful love is needed America
• 89% agreed that more love is needed in U.S. communities
• 77% of Americans said that they need more meaningful love in the industry or field in which they work
• An overwhelming 95% of Americans responded that more meaningful love is needed in the world

Love Fest 2013 gave me my first chance to talk publically about what I’ve learned from women across the U.S. who definitely desire more meaningful love. During our interviews, I put a magic wand in each woman’s hand that gave her the power to change one thing in the country immediately. The number one response was increase tolerance , definitely a component of meaningful love. Like Beth in Mississippi, woman after woman asked, “Can’t we talk to one another? Can’t we care about one another?”

Young men in Minnesota also empowered me with information about how people in America are working hard to be democratic in different ways that are grounded upon meaningful love. That’s little “d” democractic, the ‘We the People as community’ democracy that I spoke about in my Love Fest session.

Benjamin (pictured left) shared how they’re creating community that largely rejects consumption and competition. He and his friends at Organic Compound use organic gardening, music, art and rituals like sweat lodges to reinforce togetherness and loving relationships that they take out into the world. ( https://www.facebook.com/#!/organiccompoundmn )

Finally, this gave me a chuckle this morning as Love Fest 2013 concludes: even using a heart-shaped bowl changes people, changes behavior.

Here’s what Andrew O’Connell reported this morning in the Harvard Business Review “Daily Stat;” researchers in France found:

“ 46.3% of restaurant customers left tips when they were given heart-shaped dishes for their money, compared with just 31.2% and 26.2% when the tip dishes were round or square, respectively, says Nicolas Guéguen of the Université de Bretagne Sud in France (the experiment was conducted in France, where tipping is not expected because a service charge is included in the bill). The findings suggest that a simple physical cue such as a heart-shaped bowl can induce thoughts of love, which activate altruism and helping behavior.” http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/09/a-heart-shaped-bowl-makes-you/

Isn’t that something?

Hats off to all the Love Fest 2013 speakers who are courageously moving their heart-centered practices and approaches into their spheres of influence. I’m grateful to have been in your company to talk about love and democracy as community, in part because we can measure it.

More than that, in my gut (and heart) I suspect the Beatles were really onto something:  love is all we need. After all, there’s proof.

inCourage Recommendations

The Fetzer Institute ( www.fetzer.org ) is engaging with people around the world to foster awareness of the power of love and forgiveness in our global community.

Organic Compound is a community dedicated to art, music and sustainability, https://www.facebook.com/#!/organiccompoundmn .

Love Fest 2013 is a free telesummit event with 13 thought leaders discussing how love can be infused in every aspect of our lives. www.lovefest2013.com