Love Works: Writing a Book at the Crossroads of Business and Humanity By Kelly Hall

By Kelly Hall

When Books by Women offered the chance to share how my book came into the world, I paused to reflect on the strange, winding path that led me here. Writing Love Works was never on my career checklist. I was a business executive, not an author. Yet sometimes, a book chooses its writer.

For me, that choice began in an ordinary lunch meeting. A friend and I were deep in conversation about corporate culture and financial returns, exploring how the “soft stuff” of human connection often shapes the hardest metrics on a balance sheet. He observed the contrast across companies in his private equity portfolio: some flourished through collaboration, while others quietly suffocated in toxic culture.

As he spoke, something stirred in me. I had seen both extremes — the best and worst of leadership — across my career in small businesses, global corporations, and even an organization experimenting with self-directed teams. His words lit a fuse under a truth I had carried for years: the workplace is the most formative stage of adult life, and it should be a place where people thrive, not a place that drains them.

I left that lunch, and fate intervened. My very next stop was an online Writer’s Bootcamp with Hay House Publishing. I signed in, skeptical and curious, and found myself swept up in three days of possibility. Could I write this book? Could I give voice to the conviction that had been building inside me — that love, yes love, belongs in business? By the end of the weekend, I no longer doubted. I opened my laptop, and words began to flow.

For three weeks, the stories poured out. Eleven chapters arrived almost fully formed, as if waiting in my body for release. Other moments would come suddenly: in the shower, on a walk, while driving. I would scramble for a notebook or dictate into my phone, afraid to lose them. By the time I reached twenty chapters, I realized I had not just a collection of thoughts but the foundation of a book.

Still, early drafts are fragile. Hay House had wisely cautioned: don’t show your manuscript to family or friends too soon. They either tell you it’s perfect (when it’s not), or they project their fears onto your effort. So, I chose eight trusted colleagues who I knew would be honest but kind. Their feedback was gold. They told me where my stories resonated and where they needed context. They showed me that clarity was not only editorial — it was a form of love for the reader.

I had never published before. The world of agents, editors, and contracts was unfamiliar terrain. But I knew how to ask for help. Friends introduced me to authors who had gone before me, and eventually I partnered with the Fedd Agency in Austin, Texas. I was drawn to their hybrid model, which married the independence of self-publishing with the steady hand of seasoned professionals. With their guidance, I moved through sub-edits, line edits, cover design, interior layout, and the labyrinth of distribution channels.

They even walked me through recording the audiobook — an unexpectedly intimate process. Sitting in a studio, reading my own words aloud for hours, I realized I was not only the book’s author but also its witness. Every sentence carried a memory, a lesson, a piece of me.

Love Works is a collection of twenty stories from my life and career woven into a call for change. I wanted to challenge the norms of today’s capitalist community. We spend more of our healthy adult years at work than anywhere else. Shouldn’t those years be spent in environments that are safe, empowering, and energized by connection? Work should not be a grind that breeds anxiety, fatigue, and fear. It should be a place where we belong, where performance and humanity reinforce one another.

The title is both a statement and a promise: Love Works — in every sense of the phrase. It works as a strategy, as a force, as a way of being. It works in teams, in markets, in life.

Six months after launch, I find myself on a journey I never could have predicted. I’ve been interviewed on more than twenty podcasts. Articles appear each month — some in magazines, others on my Substack, where I share the more personal essays. I meet like-minded professionals who are daring to put humanity back at the center of their leadership. Each conversation affirms what I sensed at that fateful lunch: we are hungry for new models, new language, new courage.

What I love most is the paradox: while the world feels dark and divided in many ways, the more 

I share Love Works, the more evidence I see of light. People are ready. People want to believe capitalism and love can belong in the same sentence. They want workplaces where purpose and profit are not enemies, but partners.

Writing a book is often described as a solitary act. In some ways it is — the blank page asks for your attention, and no one can give it but you. Yet, I found the process deeply communal. The friends who encouraged me, the readers who gave feedback, the editors who sharpened my prose, the hosts who invited me into conversation — all of them helped this book into the world.

When I hold Love Works in my hands now, I don’t just see my words. I see a community of voices, a chain of guidance, a constellation of support. And I see the next chapter, still unwritten, where this work ripples outward.

Because if there’s one thing I know with certainty, it is this: love works. In writing. In leadership. In life.

***

KELLY WINEGARDEN HALL is a leadership expert and business strategist who helps individuals and organizations move from surviving to thriving. As the founder of Live L.A.R.G.E., she brings 30 years of experience leading diverse teams and transforming struggling businesses into high-performing, self-directing organizations. Her new book is Love Works: Transforming the Workplace with Purpose and Authenticity (Fedd Books; March 4, 2025). Learn more at KellyWinegardenHall.com.

Love Works: Transforming the Workplace with Purpose and Authenticity, Kelly Winegarden Hall

Love Works is a collection of true stories from cubicles to conference rooms, offered to excite full participation and peak performance in any organization.

Each chapter explores concepts including psychological safety, free will, trust and redistributed power with concrete examples to activate change. Most adults spend more time at work than any other activity in life, and Loving Leaders take personal responsibility for the quality of work experience for ourselves and the colleagues in our care. Bringing your love to work increases personal satisfaction, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. When work is engaging and effective for all, capitalism recaptures its power to change the world for the better—one community at a time.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing