Total Leadership News 
August 2012

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We stand on the shoulders of giants. On a recent trip to Ann Arbor, MI, where I earned my PhD almost 30 years ago, I had the honor of spending an inspiring morning in conversation with one of my professors, Bob Kahn, a founder of the field of organizational psychology, who at 93 is still doing research that matters. As mentor and role model, Kahn showed me and so many others that our work as researchers and educators could make a difference. 

 

I hope you find it useful to read in this Total Leadership (TL) newsletter about the national dialogue on "having it all," how people create sustainable change with TL, our amazing Alumni Coaches, and books we like.  I'd love to hear your reactions, ideas, and updates.  

 

Stew

                                               

Talk About "Having It All"

 

The incredible burst of attention to this topic, following Anne-Marie Slaughter's Atlantic article, has raised consciousness another notch.  Here's my contribution to the dialogue, "'Having it All' Is Not a Women's Issue" (Harvard Business Review blog): 

 

The resonance of Anne-Marie Slaughter's Atlantic article is testimony to how far we've come since 1987, when I began talking about work and family in my Wharton School classes.... But this is not a women's issue; our increasingly shared understanding is that this a critical social issue with great economic consequences. (Read more.)

 

Creating Sustainable Change -- How People Use TL

  

Veronika Sonsev

Veronika (from 2004 TL class), CEO and founder Veronika Sonsev of inSparq, a social discovery suite for retailers, was recently selected as one of Fast Company's League of Extraordinary Women.  She writes that Total Leadership "really helped me think through how to strategically align the various aspects of my life so that they all benefit the same cause. Women in Wireless is a non-profit I started to help develop and promote more female leaders in mobile and digital media. In helping others, I also established relationships and made connections that helped so many other aspects of my life, including my company, inSparq."

 

Bree McQuillan

Bree, an engineering manager at Aerco International, took my course in 2010 and is quoted here on the Wharton MBA for Executives Web site: "I took this class during the term when I had my son. It was such an interesting time to take the class because I was embarking on a new part of my life, and I was concerned about how I would continue to balance my career with my new family life in the future. The Bree McQuillan Total Leadership course makes you take a deep look into your inner values and aspirations, and whether you are living your life in line with those values. You are paired up with two classmates who act as coaches for you throughout the course. What I learned in this class is something I will take with me for the rest of my life. The class forces you to ask difficult questions of yourself, to challenge yourself to be a better leader and to look for wins in your life (between career, family, community and self domains) instead of always thinking of things in terms of balancing (needing to sacrifice one area of your life to fulfill another). It was truly eye-opening to think about ways you could combine domains as opposed to always thinking in terms of trade-offs."

 

Kevin Jestice

Kevin, CFA and CIPM, Kevin Jestice the head of Consultant Relations at Vanguard, was in one of my 2011 classes and wrote about the ongoing benefits of stakeholder dialogues: "This has been the most valuable course to me in all of my Wharton studies. Quite frankly, everyone around me at work, at home, and in my community agree - they know what I'm up to because we discuss expectations openly and share more directly now - and they have provided overwhelming feedback. It's mostly positive, and when it's not it has been the constructive kind that is truly a gift."

 

Darin Evenson

Darin (in 2011), a U.S. Naval Officer, wanted to increase involvement with his kids and he did so by volunteering in their classes and on field trips and doing homework with the kids. He wrote: "I truly believe that education is the Darin Evenson key to future opportunities in life, and I want to instill this belief in my kids at the earliest age, so they want to succeed in academics for their own future. I also hope to learn how to incorporate this into my schedule regularly, so I can show my direct reports that my talk about how I think they should take time to go to their kids' soccer games, music recitals, etc. is not just lip service. Sometimes leadership by example is the best method to relay a message like this...I feel like I'm receiving huge return on my investment of resources through this experiment, and I'm eager to continue this opportunity moving forward in my kids' education."

                                               

TLO and Our Amazing Alumni Coaches

 

I'm thrilled to report that our social learning site, Total Leadership Online (TLO), continues to grow.  Over 2000 students and members of client organizations have now used it to complete the basic TL program.  And, with new features we built this year, we're once again able to include Alumni Coaches (ACs), who provide guidance to people going through the exercises on TLO.  Here's the AC roster for the two most recent classes (Summer and Fall 2012):

 

Sankar Bhamidipaty / Raghava Bharadwaj / Mike Castagna / Rich Cisek / Mike Cross / Darin Evenson / Neil Feather / Claire Gao / Will Grannis / Casper Horne / Philip Huang / Ankur Jain / Matthew Jennings / Kevin Jestice / Mihir Korke / Eugene Lebedev / Michelle Leff / Michael Maszy / William McColgan / Rich Meene / Chandan Mishra / Jennifer Paradis / David Rhode / Adam Ross / Indkia Samarawickreme / Marna Schmidt / Raghav Sharma / Richard Smith / Matthew Tanzer / Dan Voss / Heather Wilkens / Tim Withers

 

They've signed up to give back, keep the concepts and tools fresh, and develop new connections in our growing community.  Contact me to learn more.

 

Where in the World is Total Leadership?

 

Here are some of the organizations to which we've had the pleasure of bringing Total Leadership ideas, tools, and research since our last newsletter edition:

  

American Bar Association Leadership Institute

Citi Leadership Forum

Eisai   

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars 

Target Corporation

UnitedHealth Group 

University of Michigan

Work and Family Researchers Network

 

Especially fun was a workshop on "Zen Capitalism" that I ran for Wharton alumni -- some as seasoned as the Class of '68 -- during our reunion weekend in May (described here).  

 

Books We Like  

 

Daniel Denison - Leading Culture Change in Global Organizations 

 

Describes Denison's decades-long work in producing and tracking culture transformations, with great examples of global organizations that illustrate what's needed to remain competitive.

 

Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit

 

Uses the lenses of neurology and psychology to explore how children, parents, schools and managers create routines that become transformative. 

 

Marc Freedman The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife

 

Provides guidance on how to turn midlife crises into midlife opportunities. 

 

Meg Hirshberg -  For Better or For Work

 

Shows how to build a successful business and follow your passions without sacrificing healthy family relationships to the financial and emotional rollercoaster that is entrepreneurship.

 

Leslie Perlow Sleeping with Your Smartphone

 

Shows how to disconnect and be more productive by working hand-in-glove with your team.

 

 

 

Total Leadership -- in Polish, Russian, English, and Portuguese   
  

Polish edition TL Portuguese2    

 

                                               

Causes We Support

 

Total Leadership is devoted to helping those who suffer from mental illness and their familes. We support bringchange2mind.org and NAMI. The National Alliance on Mental Illness, celebrating 100 years of advocacy, "is the country's leading nonprofit dedicated to helping ALL people live mentally healthier lives."  Please consider supporting them too.  

 

Stay in Touch!


Are you sharing Total Leadership with people in your world?  I'd love to hear their reactions. And send ideas for what you'd like to see in this newsletter and at www.totalleadership.org.

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