With Valentine’s Day approaching, love tends to get framed as something personal. Romantic. Private. Something that belongs outside the walls of work.

But what if love does belong in the workplace — just not in the way we usually think about it?

Not sentimentality. Not forced positivity. Not heart emojis or motivational posters.

In organizations, love shows up as respect. And when respect is present, happiness follows.

That’s why this week’s Leading With Respect conversation felt especially timely.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Brooklyn Dicent Chief Happiness Officer, Chief Happiness Officer at The Happiness Consulting Company. Brooklyn’s work focuses on bringing the science of happiness into organizations across the country and beyond. What immediately stood out to me was how closely her perspective on happiness aligns with my work on respect.

Early in our conversation, a powerful connection emerged:

This week on Leading With Respect, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Christina Rowe, a deeply thoughtful talent development and organizational effectiveness leader who truly embodies what human-centric leadership looks like in practice.

From the moment Christina began sharing her story, one theme stood out: She sees herself first and foremost as a problem solver — someone who brings the right people, insights, and perspectives together to create solutions that genuinely serve the business and the humans inside it.

That orientation matters more than ever in today’s VUCA world: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

A Conversation with J.D. Roux, Chief People & Culture Officer at IGT

When I invited J.D. Roux to join me on the Leading With Respect podcast, I knew the conversation would be thoughtful. What I didn’t expect was how grounded, practical, and quietly powerful his perspective would be.

J.D. is a fellow Microsoft alum and currently serves as Chief People & Culture Officer at IGT (International Game Technology). But when he introduced himself, he didn’t start with his title.

“I’m a father, a husband, a son… and I also happen to be a Chief People Officer.”

That framing alone tells you a lot about how he views leadership.

Not as a position. Not as an authority. But as the responsibility to serve human beings.