Leading with Love: How Culture, Trust & AI Are Transforming Leadership
Can love transform the way we lead? Mohammad Anwar believes it can.
In this episode of Eyespiring, Heather Patrick sits down with Mohammad Anwar, President & CEO of Softway, co-founder of Culture+, and bestselling co-author of Love as a Business Strategy and Love as a Change Strategy. Mohammad shares his remarkable journey from growing up in Saudi Arabia and India to building a global technology company in Houston, overcoming near bankruptcy, and discovering that leadership rooted in love, trust, and accountability creates stronger organizations and better outcomes.
The conversation explores what it really means to build a healthy workplace culture, why leaders often confuse titles with influence, and how artificial intelligence can actually help us become more human by creating more space for relationships, empathy, and meaningful connection.
Topics Covered
- Mohammad's multicultural upbringing and entrepreneurial journey
- Starting Softway at just 20 years old
- The challenges of leadership, ego, and nearly losing his company
- Why love belongs in business
- Building trust and accountability within teams
- The biggest misconceptions about leadership
- Warning signs of a broken organizational culture
- Measuring success beyond financial performance
- Leading people through change
- Bringing humanity back to the workplace
- How AI can strengthen, not replace, human connection
- Leadership lessons from failure and personal growth
Leadership isn't about titles, power, or perfection, it's about relationships, trust, and creating environments where people can thrive. Mohammad reminds us that as technology continues to evolve, our greatest competitive advantage will always be our humanity.
If this conversation inspired you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who is passionate about leadership, culture, or the future of work.
Timestamps & Highlights
00:00 – Welcome to Eyespiring
01:40 – Growing up in Saudi Arabia, India, and eventually finding home in Texas
11:40 – Starting Softway at age 20
15:00 – Early entrepreneurial lessons, stress, and overcoming ego
17:20 – The near collapse of Softway and the moment everything changed
24:45 – Why love belongs in business
31:45 – Why organizational culture is so difficult to change
34:25 – Reframing accountability as an act of care
36:15 – The biggest misconception about leadership
37:45 – Recognizing the warning signs of a broken culture
40:30 – Measuring success through trust, teamwork, and impact
44:25 – Helping people embrace change instead of resisting it
47:30 – Bringing humanity back into the workplace
51:40 – Why AI may help us become more human
54:20 – Lightning round: leadership advice, failure, habits, and lifelong learning
58:45 – Closing thoughts and final reflections
