I love the Mashable blog. The other day I was reading an interesting post about social media and ROI and I couldn’t help but smile.

ROI seems so web 1.0 to me. As I read the article, I found myself inserting ‘LROI’ everytime the author mentioned ROI, that’s when I knew it was time to blog.

I upgraded to’ LROI,’ a while back.

After one of many high ‘RO’I experiences left my spirit and relationships irreconcilably decimated.

Life Return On Investment. Unlike ROI is holistic. It goes beyond mere financial return of an investment and evaluates the entire impact of life investments.

LROI is the aggregate return any investment makes on all of the lives it impacts; both directly and indirectly. LROI evaluates the emotional, financial, spiritual, physical and intellectual impact of ones decisions, ventures and life investments. AND because LROI evaluates impact to all the people, irectly and indirectly impacted it’s not just about what happens to you, it’s about what happens because of you…

Now that’s valuable, if you ask me.

Many of us ‘business types’ have myopically chased ROI like it’s the fountain of youth, trading almost everything albeit our first born’s to maximize the financial return we get; sacrificing health, others’ resources, our own talents and time in things that have negative human impact. Umair Haque calls these types of investments ‘useless business.’

(I Love this guy- intellectually speaking.)

Wait just a minute. Am I proposing some life investments are ‘better’ than others? And if so who do I think I am?

Yes, some investments yield more positive benefits than others. NO, I am not in any shape or form telling you which investments maximize YOUR LROI; that’s your decision. .

What would happen if those of us raised on ROI began asking a new question?

What if the next time your kids, partner, client, friend or family member comes to you with an idea, project, product, service or investment you asked, “What’s the probable LROI of that?”

When I ask myself this question I find myelf morphing (yes Matrix style) to a steward. A steward of both my own life and a steward of my impact on others lives. I immediately find myself in touch with ‘value’ the most holistic type, the value that encompasses the whole of human experience. Humanity. Do my investments help me progress to the fullest expression of my God given talents, do they help others become more human, liberated, free to be themselves or do they turn people into things, tools for me or others?

If I filter options through LROI I find myself less selfish, less attached to my way, less controlling and less knowing. Suddenly I consider all of what I value, not just money. Suddenly I consider what others value.

I morph from a myopic, narrow perspective to a wide, open picture that sees my precious resources as more than means to increase ROI.

LROI reminds me that every investment I make has a ripple effect, in my life and those it impacts.

How can I add the most value, make the greatest positive life impact, return the most to my life and others in every investment, decision and venture I invest myself, time, talents and resources in?

So let’s look at an example of how I use LROI to filter my investment decisions. Let’s say I just got an offer to work every other week in New York with World Changers International ( fake company) and their vision was to DO GOOD: WELL. And let’s agree that to invest in this partnership I would need to travel every other week and would have the opportunity to within a year work on a leading global social change initiative. Now, if I sat down and asked ROI; you bet I’d be thinking about the money and the social return I could make to the world collaborating with these social renegades.

But since I’ve upgraded to LROI; I ask what’s the life return of this opportunity?

Sure I still evaluate the return for me; synced up with other world changers, able to collaborate and use my skills, the platform, the pay, the benefits, the contacts, the future financial opportunities,….but LROI demands I look to the emotional, relational, spiritual, physical and intellectual impact of this decision. It demands I evaluate the investment opportunity based on my current priorities, goals and commitments. It forces me to address how well this investment is aligned with my core values; the person I want to be.

I wonder if the tobacco industry filtered some of their tactics through LROI if they might make different choices?

What about you?

What’s the LROI of the projects and ventures you are currently involved in? Whats the return to your life; emotionally, financially, spiritually, physically and intellectually? What’s the return to your clients, team, the tribe involved with this venture, business, movement, organization? What about others?

So what do you think? Is it time for a leadership upgrade – time to evaluate all of our decisions based on LROI?

bet you my last ‘hotpocket’ that if you begin to use LROI – your life will be upgraded…

Onward world changers…

Pam Hoelzle

Seattle Business Consultant

pam @ pam hoelzle. com