Do it in the name of love

“And so I shout around the world, Do it in the name of love, To every boy and every girl, Do it in the name of love”. It was a moment of grace to be one of the 25,000 people singing out loud these words with Neil Young at the Groningen Summerstage.

Neil Young once said that he is a musician, not an entertainer. In his Love Earth Tour, his music confronts, calls out injustice, and carries the weight of a conscious unwilling to stay silent. He had paid a price and continues to take risks as an activist. It left me asking: can I be both a business consultant and a humanistic activist? Where does the line lie – or is the line in me? Can I advise the organization, be the architect of its systems, and question the soul of that same organization and the walls of its structure at the same time?

Maybe the tension I feel needs to be approached from a place of deep care, love and compassion, rather than through a cognitive lens seeking for practical answers. Doing things in the name of love becomes the answer that integrates the consultant in me and the activist in me– love for the organization as it already is, love for the people who work there just as they are, while holding the space for what they might become and being a guide in their transformation.

*I work as a Board Adviser, Team & Executive Coach and Leadership Consultant. I like to explore the applications of art, music, philosophy and psychology in my practice*

Picture: Neil Young