As business executives across the globe seek to chart an improved course in the wake of this past year’s economic meltdown, I call your attention to a new book on leadership that may serve as a helpful guidepost — Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass).

Love Leadership is written by John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE, America’s first nonprofit social investment banking organization. The book debuted at #8 on the “CEO Reads Top 10 Best Seller List,” and has been featured in Business Week and the Washington Post.

At the age of 26 in 1992, Bryant started Operation HOPE in Los Angeles in response to the LA riots based on the premise that his community needed a “hand-up not a hand-out.” Operation HOPE seeks to “eradicate poverty in our lifetime” through financial literacy education of inner-city and under-served children and adults.

Bryant himself grew up in Compton and South Central Los Angeles, CA and was homeless for six months at the age of 18. It is this humble background that Bryant has drawn upon to make him one of the most charismatic and successful philanthropic-business leaders of our time.

Bryant has advised the last three Presidents on the importance of financial literacy as one of the most effective tools to address poverty. Bryant is a Young Global Leader for the World Economic Forum, where he spoke at WEF’s closing session in Davos, Switzerland in February 2009. Operation HOPE’s major partners include a Who’s Who of global corporations, such as: Wells Fargo, Toyota, Microsoft, E-Trade, ING, and Citigroup.

David Gergen, former senior White House advisor to four Presidents and now Director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, describes Bryant this way: “I have watched John Hope Bryant dazzle audiences from Harvard to the World Economic Forum. Now he pours his compassion and charisma into the pages of this book, delivering a powerful message about rediscovering our humanity.”

According to Don McGrath, Chairman of Bancwest Corporation: “In this book, he (Bryant) gives us a recipe for personal success driven by a simple notion: treating others with respect and dignity creates true long-term success. This message and his strategies for living it couldn’t be more timely as we address the failures of leadership that created today’s financial crisis.”

In Love Leadership, Bryant lays out his “Five Laws of Love-Based Leadership” — Loss Creates Leaders, Fear Fails, Love Makes Money, Vulnerability is Power, and Giving is Getting. As he puts it, “Leaders give, followers take. Giving inspires loyalty, attracts good people, confers peace of mind, and lies at the core of true wealth.”

Business leaders who understand and deploy these principles are most likely to succeed. Leadership based on fear is a short-term tactic that produces unreliable results, and can serve to damage the organization over time. Conversely, employees who are appreciated and respected will perform at a higher level under all conditions over the near- and long-terms.

Leaders who embrace the principles of caring and respect, will indeed love the results.

John Hope Bryant

The employees who make up today’s most successful corporations should not only reflect diversity of race, gender, and ethnicity — but also reflect diversity of thought, ideas, and experiences. As obvious as this may seem, many corporations unfortunately promote a culture that rewards a lack of diversity when it comes to idea generation and challenging the status quo.

Consider the employee or manager who tries hard to emulate the boss as a means to move up the ladder. Dressing in similar clothes, speaking in a similar style, and demonstrating some of the same interests. Sound familiar? Yet sadly enough these are indeed the managers who many times find themselves on the succession planning list.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Maybe so. But it’s also the surest way to dumb down your organization, by creating parrots who seek to echo the boss rather than generate new ideas and approaches.

Shareholders deserve better. It should start with a corporate leadership team that resists the seduction of imitative flattery. They should seek to encourage an environment that embraces diversity — of people, creative thought, and unbridled innovation in every shape and form. And the management team itself should reflect this diversity and set the example for the rest of the organization.

A baseball team made up only of left-handed pitchers will never get to the World Series. Likewise, the road to your company’s success will not be paved with how well your employees compliment the boss, but how well a diverse group of employees can complement one another.

The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) refers to itself as the “The University for Creative Careers,” and rightfully so. SCAD has more degree programs and specializations in art and design than any other university in the U.S. This year marks the 30th anniversary for SCAD, which is located in Savannah, GA, with campuses also in Atlanta, GA and Lacoste, France.

Corporations can learn from the SCAD experience. It knows that to build one of the world’s top art and design schools, you have to put students in a creative and inspiring environment. SCAD’s main campus is spread out over numerous buildings in the heart of Savannah — one of America’s most picturesque cities. Spanish moss drapes hundreds of century-old trees that line the streets and squares of Savannah. SCAD is credited with much of the revitalization of Savannah’s 2 1/2-square-mile historical district — the nation’s largest.

SCAD students also benefit from a diversity of thought, experience and perspectives. Savannah is home to scores of accomplished authors and artists. Students and faculty come from all 50 states and from over 90 countries. SCAD offers its students majors in over 40 programs, spanning the gamut of creativity and innovation, e.g., architecture, graphic design, illustration, interactive design, fashion, photography, performing arts, advertising design, and dramatic writing.

Last month, SCAD hosted a panel discussion on “Art, Design and the Cultural Moment,” which featured nationally recognized leaders in technology and innovation. The discussion focused on how “creativity can act as an economic engine…sparking entrepreneurship, growth and success.”

Learning is a life-long experience. And whether its in Savannah, Atlanta, San Francisco, New York, Denver or Cincinatti — exposing your employees to a creative environment, innovative thinking, and diversity of thought can lead to very positive results for your company’s bottom line.