For years, researchers, organizations, and leaders have been grappling with both the challenge of how best to create a motivating work environment and the role of leadership in inspiring and maximizing the work passion and performance of others.

Several years ago, Blanchard began exploring these issues as well as the relationships between leadership, employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and organizational performance. The first study included the creation of a model that we titled The Leadership-Profit Chain. This model was grounded in a literature review of hundreds of studies and meta-analyses from 1980 through 2005.

The study concluded that Strategic Leadership indirectly influenced Customer Devotion and Employee Work Passion by establishing policies, procedures, vision, and values, and that Operational Leadership directly influenced Employee Work Passion and Customer Devotion through the daily operationalization of Strategic Leadership policies. The study also found that Employee Work Passion, in turn, was a key factor in creating Customer Devotion and Organizational Vitality.

Further research allowed Blanchard to create a model of how Employee Work Passion is formed, a definition of what Employee Work Passion is, and a core set of factors that must be present in the organizational and job environment in order for Employee Work Passion to be optimized.