Profile

Stewart D. Friedman

Emeritus Practice Professor of Management and Director of the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project

Bio

Since 1984 Stew Friedman has been at Wharton, where he is the Practice Professor of Management. In 1991 he founded both the Wharton Leadership Program – initiating the required MBA and Undergraduate leadership courses – and the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project.

Stew served for five years in the mental health field before earning his PhD in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan. In 2001 Stew concluded a two-year assignment (while on leave from Wharton) at Ford, serving as the senior executive for leadership development. In partnership with the CEO, he launched a portfolio of initiatives to transform Ford's culture; 2500+ managers per year participated. Following these efforts, a research group (ICEDR) described Ford as a "global benchmark" in leadership development.

Stew is author of the award-winning bestseller, Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life (Harvard Business, 2014). It describes his challenging Wharton course (originally produced at Ford), in which participants do real-world exercises to increase their leadership performance in all parts of their lives by better integrating them, while working in peer-to-peer coaching relationships and using an innovative social learning site. The Total Leadership program – which marries the work/life and leadership development fields – is now used by individuals and organizations worldwide. The Total Leadership website was chosen as one of Forbes’ best for women.

Stew published Leading the Life You Want: Skills for Integrating Work and Life (Harvard Business) in 2014. He published Baby Bust, 10th Anniversary Edition: New Choices for Men and Women in Work and Family (Wharton School Press) in 2024.

Stew’s other publications include the widely-cited Harvard Business Review articles, “Work and life: the end of the zero-sum game” (1998) and “Be a better leader, have a richer life” (2008), and “The Happy Workaholic: a role model for employees” (Academy of Management Executive, 2003). His Work and Family – Allies or Enemies? (Oxford, 2000) was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the field's best books. In Integrating Work and Life: The Wharton Resource Guide (Jossey-Bass, 1998), Stew edited the first collection of learning tools for building skills for integrating work and life.

Stew serves on a number of boards and has advised many organizations, including the U.S. Departments of Labor and State, the U.N., and two White House administrations. He gives high-energy keynotes, conducts interactive workshops, and is an award-winning teacher. The New York Times cited the “rock star adoration” he inspires in students. He was chosen by Working Mother as one of America’s 25 most influential men to have made things better for working parents, and by Thinkers50 as one of the “world’s top 50 business thinkers.” The Families and Work Institute honored him with a Work Life Legacy Award in 2013. Follow him on Twitter @StewFriedman. Tune in to his show, Work and Life, on Sirius XM 111, Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School, Tuesdays 7 PM Eastern.