Total Leadership

Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

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Now in paperback, this national bestseller is a proven, step-by-step approach that describes how, in today's fractious, tumultuous world, your success as a leader cannot be only about achievement in your career or profession. You have to perform well in all domains of your life—work, home, community, and your private self (mind, body, and spirit) -- and create harmony among these different parts over the course of your life.

The good news is that, contrary to conventional wisdom about "balance," you don't have to assume these domains are always competing in a zero-sum game. Total Leadership, now used in training and educational systems by organizations and schools world-wide, is a game-changing blueprint for how to perform well as a leader not by trading off one domain for another, but by finding mutual value among all four. It can be done! Stew Friedman shows you how to achieve these "four-way wins" as a leader who can be real, be whole, and be innovative.

With engaging examples and clear instruction, Friedman provides practical tools for using these proven principles to produce stronger business results, find clearer purpose in what you do, feel more connected to the people who matter most, and generate change that is truly sustainable because it's good for your work, and your family, and your community, and for you personally.

Total Leadership, invented by Friedman when he was global head of leadership development at Ford Motor, based on years of research and testing, is a unique resource that shows how you can become more successful and satisfied in all dimensions of life by:

  • Being real—acting with authenticity by clarifying what’s important: Understanding how crucial events in the past have shaped your values and aspirations; assessing the relative importance of work, home, community, and self; taking stock of how much attention you invest in each of these four domains; and diagnosing your satisfaction in each.
  • Being whole—acting with integrity by respecting the whole person:  Identifying the most important people in your life and their performance expectations, determining how different expectations affect one another, assessing how your use different media for connecting with these “key stakeholders,” and preparing and conducting dialogues with each one to verify assumptions and see things through their eyes.
  • Being innovative—acting with creativity by experimenting with new solutions:  After seeing both what and who are important in a fresh light, designing and implementing small, smart, potent experiments that swiftly produce better results in all four parts of  life and that transform alienation, exhaustion, and resentment into feelings of purpose, authenticity, connection, and optimism.

Total Leadership helped me tremendously to rediscover and reaffirm my core work values. For a journey to authenticity, this is the must-read road map for leaders and leaders-to-be.

Jane Lin-Baden, CEO, Asia Pacific Isobar

Stew Friedman brings a new definition of leadership to every sector, with “four-way wins” that will inspire leaders at every level. A rare and moving guidebook for your journey to leadership.

Frances Hesselbein, former CEO, Girls Scouts of the USA

Total Leadership is a practical guide to increasing one's productivity, efficiency, and impact.

Business Insider

Stew Friedman accomplishes something quite rare in Total Leadership. Through a combination of gripping narratives and lucid descriptions of his framework, he points the way to enduring satisfaction for executives and others by uniquely connecting the richest aspects of their lives.

Mitch Wienick, Partner, Kelleher Associates, Inc. and former CEO, CDI Corporation

Across nations and industries, leaders struggle to juggle the multiple aspects of their lives and meet the demands of an ever-growing list of stakeholders. Friedman calls an end to this zero-sum game. Time and time again, I have seen his method generate a great return for individuals and their organizations.

Shlomo Ben-Hur, former VP, Leadership Development and Learning, BP International

Total Leadership is a rich and satisfying call to action. Tapping into his innovative work in executive education and work/family research, Friedman teaches us how to create productive work settings that also enable satisfying personal and family lives.

Denise M. Rousseau, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University

In Total Leadership Stew Friedman defines leadership in an exciting new way that can lead not only to greater success at work but also to greater success at home, in the community, and for yourself -- with each mutually reinforcing the other.

Raymond Gilmartin, former CEO, Merck

Stew Friedman absolutely gets it. He is both a visionary and a much-needed advocate for a new kind of leadership in the twenty-first century. What an empowering book!

Janet Hanson, Founder, 85 Broads

Total Leadership will help you build a life, not just a résumé. Stew Friedman has written the owner’s manual for all types of leaders, young and old, who aspire to both professional success and personal fulfillment.

Tom Tierney, Chairman and Cofounder, The Bridgespan Group, and former CEO, Bain & Company, author, Give Smart

With a refreshingly simple approach to winning the daily struggle between family bliss and career satisfaction, Stew Friedman outlines clear and innovative solutions for better managing the competing demands of our lives. Engaging and inspiring.

Anne Erni, Chief People Officer, Audible

In the future, being a leader will require new ways to integrate work with the rest of one’s life, resulting in more effective leadership and a more fulfilling life. Total Leadership points the way.

Robert Reich, Professor, University of California at Berkeley, former U.S. Secretary of Labor

Destined to be a classic, Total Leadership is a remarkable book. I have studied leadership and led organizations for over twenty years. No other book has reshaped my thinking about leadership development as much as Total Leadership.

David A. Thomas, President of Morehouse College

In a world of work-life trade-offs, Stew Friedman offers what most think impossible: a field-tested program that gives you not only what you want in business, but also what you want in life. Brilliant!

Tim Ferriss, Author, The 4-Hour Workweek

Essential for developing sustainable leadership, Total Leadership concepts have extraordinary strength.

Carlos Torres Vila, CEO, BBVA

Total Leadership is an excellent blueprint for optimizing time and energy across multiple domains [and] provides an invaluable methodology for analyzing and realigning priorities to maximize one’s full leadership potential.

Captain Thomas, U.S. Marine commander, veteran of 200+ combat missions

Stew transformed my development as a leader and internet entrepreneur. The Total Leadership book and the exercises in it are equally powerful. I’m buying a copy for everyone in my company.

Brett A. Hurt, CEO and Co-founder of Data.World, Founder of Bazaarvoice

 

     

 

 

Reviews and Media

2015. 20 of The Best Books by The Most Influential Thinkers in Business, Business Insider, November.
2014. Please Everyone. The Motley Fool Stock Advisor, December.
2013. The changing nature of ‘having it all’. Knowledge@Wharton, January 25, 2013
2011. The Goal is Transformation. Penn Medicine, Winter 2010/2011.
2009. Book Review by Ariane Ollier-Malaterre. Human Resources Management, vol. 48 (4). 
2009. Total Leadership. Business Plus, July/August.
2009. Total Leadership. An interview. Aish, May.
2009. A Life in Harmony. Chief Executive Officer, March 31.
2009. Managing in Troubled Times. Effective Executive, March..
2008. Be a Better Leader. Selling Power, December.
2008. Getting More of What You Want With Four Way Wins! Positive Psychology News Daily, December 11.
2008. Tipping the Scales. Human Resources Management, Fall
2008. Preparing the Leaders of Tomorrow. Jewish Exponent, Oct. 23
2008. Total Leadership: An Interview with Stewart D. Friedman. Sloan Work and Family Research Network, July, vol. 10 (7).
2008. Three Minute Manager. Fortune Magazine, July 21.
2008. Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane,  WHYY, June 11
2008. “Time Bind” vs. Psychological Interference and More. The Blog of Tim Ferris, June 10.
2008. Hot Ticket in B-School: Bringing Life Values to Corporate Ethics. New York Times, May 29.

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