Harvard Business Publishing

You're not paying attention to your family, your community, your private self? All you have time for is your career? You're making a big mistake. How things are going at home, in your community, and in your interior life all influence whether you perform well at work. Over 20 years of research and practice on leadership and performance, I've found that when you bring the whole person to work, you get more energy, productivity, commitment, and focus. It makes good business sense to account for the values and passions that really drive people.

Leadership in business isn't just about business. It's about life. In these posts, you'll find inspiring stories of how people are taking practical action to improve performance in the different parts of their lives.

There's plenty of talk now about work/life balance. It's a painful, pressing issue for many professionals. But "balance" is the wrong metaphor, because it implies tradeoffs: you've got to give up one or more parts of your life to have success in another. Instead, we'll focus on achieving "four-way wins." This requires that you integrate the four different parts of life -- work, home, community, and self. You must generate the support you need from the key people around you. That's how you can make sustainable change in how, when, and where you get things done. In doing so, life becomes better for you and for your most important people.

As you do this, you'll realize that, as a leader, you've got more freedom than you thought you had into trying new ways of getting things done. The goal of these posts is to share what I and others have learned about how to become a better leader and have a richer life.

To get started, watch this short video interview and use these two self-assessment tools. To delve more deeply, read my Harvard Business Review article and visit my website.