By: CeCe President
The Moment I Knew I Was Valued
Before joining Presidential Consultants, I was the VP of Partnership Development for Motivating the Masses, the personal development company founded by Lisa Nichols where love and appreciation were key drivers of growth and success. Lisa was larger than life—a powerhouse who shared stages with Tony Robbins, Steve Harvey, Bishop T.D. Jakes, and Les Brown. People saw her as unstoppable, a force of nature.
Early in my career with Lisa, during our first international business trip, I woke up on day two of a four-day event with severe back pain. I didn’t want my discomfort to be a distraction, so I kept pushing through. But Lisa noticed. She could see the pain in my face.
When I finally admitted I was struggling, she didn’t hesitate. She grabbed a pillow, placed it behind my back, lifted my feet onto a table, and scheduled a massage for us later that day.
That moment changed everything. I felt deeply seen, valued, and cared for—not just as an employee, but as a person. And because she poured into me, I was fully committed to pouring back into her business. Over the next three years, I helped grow her revenue 3X, doubled her speaking fees, and increased retention on her highest-end product by 62.5%.
Not because I had to. Because I wanted to.
That’s the power of love and appreciation in the workplace. When employees feel genuinely cared for, they show up with more energy, commitment, and innovation. They don’t just do their jobs—they give their best.
Why Love and Appreciation Matter at Work
It’s easy to assume that love has no place in the workplace. But in helping professions—social services, healthcare, education—love is essential. These are people who pour into others every day. But when no one pours into them? Burnout follows.
What Research Says About Love and Appreciation at Work
✅ A study by Harvard Business Review found that employees who feel cared for are 44% more engaged than those who don’t.
✅ Gallup research shows that teams with high emotional connection see a 21% increase in profitability and a 59% decrease in turnover.
✅ A study on healthcare workers found that those who felt valued and supported were 50% less likely to experience burnout.
Love isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a business strategy that leads to higher retention, better performance, and more engaged employees.
But what does love actually look like in the workplace?
What Does Love Look Like in the Workplace?
Love isn’t just words—it’s actions. It’s how leaders show up for their people every day.
In the helping professions, love looks like:
Emotional Safety: Employees know they can speak up without fear of being dismissed or judged.
Genuine Listening: Leaders pause, listen, and respond with empathy.
Celebrating Milestones: Recognizing birthdays, work anniversaries, and personal wins.
Respecting Boundaries: Encouraging time off, mental health breaks, and work-life balance.
Removing Barriers to Success: Investing in training, tools, and support that make employees’ jobs easier.
Love isn’t just about feeling good—it’s about creating environments where people can thrive.
Ways to Show Your Team Love and Appreciation
If you’re wondering how to make love a leadership practice, here are some simple but powerful ways to start:
1️⃣ Speak Life Into Your Team
Give real, specific praise. Instead of “Great job,” say, “I love how you handled that difficult client conversation with patience and grace.”
Publicly celebrate wins—in meetings, emails, and company shout-outs.
2️⃣ Support Their Growth
Invest in professional development. Pay for conferences, courses, and mentorship opportunities.
Give employees stretch assignments that help them grow.
3️⃣ Respect Their Well-Being
Encourage unplugging—no expectation of emails after work.
Offer mental health days or well-being perks.
Create spaces for renewal, like wellness programs and meditation breaks.
4️⃣ Show Love Through Wellness Support
Optimal wellness support in the workplace goes beyond basic benefits and occasional wellness initiatives—it requires a sustained commitment to employee well-being. A truly effective approach integrates mental, emotional, and physical health strategies into the organizational culture. This means offering spaces where employees can decompress, providing access to mindfulness and stress-management tools, and ensuring that wellness is not an afterthought but a core pillar of workplace success. When organizations prioritize holistic wellness, employees feel valued, experience lower stress levels, and become more engaged, productive, and resilient in their roles.
At Presidential Consultants, so much of our work is about deep-diving into the coaching and training strategies that help leaders:
Create emotional safety that empowers genuine listening.
Develop systems for celebrating milestones.
Establish and respect boundaries.
Provide tools to remove barriers to success.
And this work is big, important, meaningful, and customized. And to show our love and appreciation for our partners, we wanted to find a simple, cost-effective way to help them sustain a culture of well-being—one that empowers their team to reset, recharge, and build resilience while reducing stress, boosting engagement, and strengthening workplace connection.
That’s why we created WorkWell Live.
With 45-minute virtual wellness sessions every two weeks, WorkWell Live helps teams:
✔ Recharge and reset
✔ Reduce stress and burnout
✔ Build a workplace culture of care and appreciation
👉 Learn more at www.workwell-live.com
How Will You Show Love to Your Team?
Take a moment to reflect: How do you show your team that they are valued?
If the answer isn’t clear, this is your opportunity to change that.
Because when employees feel loved, they bring their best. And when they bring their best, everyone wins.
Entrepreneur and international speaker CeCe President is the creator of Be BOLD Enough: A Service-Based Leadership Development System. She empowers passionate leaders with the coaching, confidence, and clarity they need to create massive impact and serve customers at the highest levels.
CeCe holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the City University of New York. With over two decades of experience leading public, private, and non-profit organizations, CeCe is a sought-after consultant, speaker, and leadership coach whose work changes lives and reshapes organizations.
CeCe is an avid volunteer, outspoken advocate, and committed donor to various causes. Among the many ways she serves her community is as a board member for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northeast Ohio, Greater Cleveland Partnership, and COSE, Cleveland’s small business Chamber of Commerce. CeCe and her husband, company founder Anthony President, are both native Clevelanders and proud alumni of John Carroll University.
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