Business and Personal Results
Total Leadership came to fruition when Stew Friedman was recruited to head up a leadership development program at a Fortune 50 company in the late 1990’s. Starting with thirty-five high-potential managers from across the globe, they followed all the steps in the Total Leadership program and, in the span of about four months, implemented changes that touched work and the other parts of their lives. Their experiments produced a combined $5.8 million in cost savings, $0.7 million in new revenue, and $0.5 million in productivity gains.
In addition to the quantifiable dollar results, these business professionals improved their relationships with customers and colleagues, and felt more satisfied with their jobs. They felt more deeply connected to their families and their communities, especially since they had drawn them into the process of change. They reported feeling healthier and less stressed. They were making better use of leisure time. And they were feeling better about the company, and more excited about tying their futures to its future.
They accomplished these results not by instituting lean manufacturing or quality-control programs like Six Sigma. They did it by reframing the idea of business leadership, by applying new skills and insights at work, at home, in the community, and within the self.
By now many more people have tested the Total Leadership method in classes at the Wharton School and in workshops around the world. They find that, by proceeding through a guided series of exercises and experiences, they can make changes that allow them to focus their time and energy better. Their core values surface, allowing them to transform the way they allocate their attention, skills, and resources. As a result, their daily actions become more closely aligned with their values. They work smarter, with greater focus and commitment. They achieve the results that matter to them most, in all areas of their lives.
Improved Satisfaction and Performance
We have studied hundreds of participants to compare how they assess their satisfaction before and after they’ve taken themselves through Total Leadership.
Their levels of satisfaction increase by an average of 20 percent in their work lives, 28 percent in their home lives, and 31 percent in their community lives. Perhaps most significantly, their satisfaction with their own interior lives — physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual — increases by 39 percent. Similarly, they report that they believe their own performance at work, at home, in their communities, and within themselves has improved, respectively, by 9, 15, 12, and 25 percent.
Both satisfaction and performance get better.
Total Leadership is not an abstract idea; it is a structured method that produces measurable change. You become more focused on the things that matter and so you feel more grounded, more like the person you want to be. You generate more support and feel more connected to the important people in your life. You become more resilient in response to the vagaries of our turbulent world. And you become more open to discovery and so feel more hopeful, indeed enthusiastic, about the future and your power to shape it.