Leading The Life You Want: Skills For Integrating Work And Life [Hardcover]

AWall Street JournalBestseller

“For nearly thirty years, my life’s work has been to help people like you find ways to bring the often warring aspects of life into greater harmony.” — Stew Friedman, fromLeading the Life You Want

You’re busy trying to lead a “full” life. But does it really feel full—or are you stretched too thin? Enter Stew Friedman, Wharton professor, adviser to leaders across the globe, and passionate advocate of replacing the misguided metaphor of “work/life balance” with something more realistic and sustainable. If you’re seeking “balance” you’ll never achieve it, argues Friedman. The idea that “work” competes with “life” ignores the more nuanced reality of our humanity—the interaction of four domains: work, home, community, and the private self. The goal is to create harmony among them instead of thinking only in terms of trade-offs. It can be done.

Building on his national bestseller,Total Leadership, and on decades of research, teaching, and practice as both consultant and senior executive, Friedman identifies the critical skills for integrating work and the rest of life. He illustrates them through compelling original stories of these remarkable people:

• former Bain & Company CEO and Bridgespan co-founderTom Tierney
• Facebook COO and bestselling authorSheryl Sandberg
• nonprofit leader and US Navy SEALEric Greitens
• US First LadyMichelle Obama
• soccer champion-turned-broadcasterJulie Foudy
• renowned artistBruce Springsteen

Each of these admirable (though surely imperfect) people exemplifies a set of skills—for being real, being whole, and being innovative—that produce a sense of purpose, coherence, and optimism.

Based on interviews and research, their stories plc2