The parallels between Business and going to battle are often drawn. Sun Tzu’s ancient military text ‘The Art of War’ is treated as a modern business guide. But how does this affect the culture and performance of the places we work? Are we able to create thriving workplaces in a battle zone? Do people want to work in the trenches and annihilate the competition?

Richard Branson discusses in this post his thoughts on the importance of language in our lives and work, how it shapes whether we are poised for collaboration or for conflict.

The B Team, in partnership with Virgin Unite and BBH London, has been exploring the Language of Business. Surveying over a thousand 16 - 21 year olds in Great Britain we asked the next generation of business leaders whether Business needed a new Language of Love. We found that they believe good business cultures would be ‘innovative’, ‘creative’ and ‘fun’ and that the types of companies they’d be most successful working for were ‘fair to employees’, ‘responsible’ and ‘inspiring change’.

These words show us that the next generation think differently about business and demands that we change our language and ways of working to attract, develop and retain the brightest and best young talent.

You can read more about whether business needs a new language of love and see the infographic of all the findings from the survey here.