Stew Friedman has been on the Wharton faculty since 1984.  He became the Management Department’s first Practice Professor in recognition of his work on the application of theory and research to the real challenges facing organizations. As founding director of the Wharton Leadership Program, in 1991 he initiated Wharton’s required MBA and undergraduate leadership courses.  He also started and directs the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project; its mission is to develop leaders and enable change through action learning and applied research. 

In 2001 Stew concluded a two-year assignment as a senior executive at Ford Motor Company, where he was director of the Leadership Development Center (LDC), running a 50-person, $25 MM operation.  In partnership with the CEO, he launched a corporate-wide portfolio of initiatives designed to transform Ford's culture, in which over 2500 managers per year participated.  He brought his concept of “total leadership” to Ford Motor, which created measurable change in both increased business results and enriched lives.  While Stew was at Ford, the LDC received major media attention (including profiles in Fast Company, Training and Development, and CIO).  Near the end of his tenure at Ford, an independent research organization (ICEDR) identified the LDC as having achieved "global benchmark" status for leadership development programs.   

Stew worked for five years in health care before earning his Ph.D. (1984) from the University of Michigan.  He has published numerous books and articles on work/life integration, leadership, and the dynamics of change, including 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” (1993, Academy of Management Executive).  His book, Work and Family -- Allies or Enemies? (co-authored with Jeff Greenhaus, Oxford University Press, 2000) was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the field's best.  With Integrating Work and Life: The Wharton Resource Guide (Jossey-Bass, 1998), Stew edited the first collection of learning tools for building leadership skills for integrating work and life.  His most recent book is the national bestseller, Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life (Harvard Business Press, 2008). Visit the Total Leadership website at: http://www.totalleadership.org/

Stew has consulted with a wide range of organizations and executives, including Jack Welch and Vice President Al Gore; he serves on numerous advisory boards; and he conducts workshops globally on leadership and the whole person, creating change, and strategic human resources issues. The recipient of numerous teaching awards, he appears regularly in business media (The New York Times cited the “rock star adoration” he inspires in his students), and was chosen by Working Mother as one of America’s 25 most influential men in having made things better for working parents.