What is the key to success in building new things? Is it making the code run fast. It is proper financing, or maybe hiring the right people. At a technical level yes, those things matter tremendously. However, at a high level you should probably strive for a more general goal: crafting love.

First you have to chose your craft, and make sure you love it. Only pursue fields you are passionate about. And only hire people that are passionate about it. Because this love for the craft will eventually turn into discipline, persistence and mastery. Loving what you do allows you to do the must unexpected of things: crafting love.

What is Crafting Love Exactly?

So is loving the craft is having passion for what you do, crafting the love is instilling that same passion to your users, investors and collaborators. Ultimately, your goal should be to make society love what you do as much as you do. The creation of brand ambassadors should be your strategic goal for customer management. The creation of follow on, leading and supporting (maybe even for decades) investors, should be your strategic goal for investor management. The creation of employees with an entrepreneurial mindset, a heart invested in the company and a certain belief in your company’s values and mission, is an ideal goal for human capital development. Forget about half-tones, so-so employees or investors.

How Do You Craft Love?

You don’t. Love is not manufactured, only attracted. Your goal is to craft a magnetic personality, vision and product that will attract the love that is already residing in the minds and hearts of your most important constituents. Hence, crafting love involves finding people with a capacity for love, identifying affinities to your company and then unlocking such love by connecting your passion with theirs. This is not persuasion, is not seduction and is definitely not manipulation.

You craft love by identifying things and causes people already love and then picking the ones that resonate with your company. People love great design. Does your company? Do you? If you do, then you can connect using that channel, a primal helix that partially defines the DNA of your company. Find enough of those to create the very culture of your firm, and never compromise such values. Then connect with your audience by practicing your values to the highest standard and showcasing your love for the craft.

And over time you sell: to potential employees, to investors, to customers. You sell them love. Because the ones who buy will be the ones that love what you stand for, and by definition, the best possible associates from a cultural perspective. Every other affinity metric you’ll use to qualify these associates is more or less rational and more often than not straightforward, yet culture is tricky and cultural fit is hard, even for long-timers.

How To Train Others To Craft Love?

The hardest part of all is creating a “love crafting culture”. A discipline that so far is only widely present in companies such as Apple and high-end designer empires. The tricky fact is that recruiting lovers is required but not sufficient. To achieve a complete virtuous “love cycle” you need to hire great story-tellers, communicators that can, and have demonstrated a capacity to, instill passion into others. You don’t just want the designer that makes amazing work, but the one who blogs about it, has written books about it, tweets about it and has proven to be an attractive force for such love.

So, after hiring excellent story-tellers that love your craft you just empower them to tell your story of love for the craft. You empower them to perform inspiring story-telling tailored to your company’s DNA in a constant and relevant fashion.

Love the Craft And Craft the Love

Cultural fit refers to making sure you have surrounded your cause with people that will multiply your efforts again and again. In this context, loving the craft is your first step. Furthermore, in order to accelerate your efforts and compound your company’s social and intellectual capital you need to craft the love. Because multiplying your beliefs is what truly makes your company grow. I leave your with a relevant infographic about world class culture development. Happy Monday!