Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

Stew's 'Total leadership' has had an incredible on my life. About a year ago, I sat for the first time and tried to figure out what I wanted in all aspects of my life. The journey has been eye-opening and very satisfying. I now often go back to my writings and experiments and update them as I go through life in a much more determined and deliberate way; trying to achieve what I want in each of the "4 domains". Thank you Stew for being such a mentor, be it in person or through your book.

Friedman has been engaged in the best of the global conversations about these issues for decades. Always ahead of his time, he's turned the lenses on old chatter and dimensionalized the real issues: high performing people tend to burn themselves out and up but paying attention ONLY to their careers. This creates toxic lives; toxic lives destroy everything and everyone in their path. As a consultant to CEOs and Boards, I watch this play out every day. Even better, this book is clear-headed, practical, experiential; elegantly connecting the dots at the intersection of the person and the organizational landscape so one can assess the degree to which one is wholly engaged in their lives and not just their work. While grounded in great theory (he spares us jargon and ponderous punditing) this is a highly enjoyable and useful manual for those ready to do the work necessary to recalibrate their own lives. As a devout preacher on the importance of Life Stories, I celebrate his call to each of us to assess our stories, take ownership of them, and work to make them more coherent and authentic.

I had the pleasure to see Dr. Friedman speak and received a copy of his book. I sat down and read the book with enthusiasm as he has a unique manner of inspiring his audience to make sure that their life is in alignment, as an out of balance leader is not an effective leader. Friedman teaches that you have to assess your own life situation and align your actions with your values. A person who wants to accomplish more in any area must focus on achieving better results in all parts of their life. Spending too much time on any one thing will through the whole person out of whack and rob them of their potential. The book is a good read, and heavy with stories of his students triumphs from using his theories. I was especially drawn to his points of sharing your mission with your "shareholders" (those important in your life: spouse, boss, parents, coworkers, etc...) as I believe that all opportunities come from people and by making sure that others are engaged in your journey will assist the individual in achieving their goals. This book is well worth the investment of money and time.

Stew Friedman has hit the ball out of the park by writing a book about his real-world experience helping people combine and optimize their home life with their work life. I took a class from Stew at Wharton a few years ago as the ideas and techniques in this book were evolving. The basic idea is to use Stew's rating methodology to rank how much effort you put into different parts of your life and to measure it against the returns you get. It's surprisingly easy to do and very insightful. Then, the book shows you how to optimize where you focus your energy so you can get better results in all the parts of your life that matter. Very few business and leadership books admit that the link between your home life and your work life is an integral part of how you function in both. Total Leadership not only understands this idea, it teaches you how to strengthen the link, enriching your life at work and at home. Try it, it works! -a happy VP somewhere in Silicon Valley