Stewart Friedman

Stewart D. Friedman is a distinguished authority on work-life integration and balance as well as an Emeritus Professor of Management Practice at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of multiple business-centric books and the founding director of the Wharton Leadership Program and Wharton's Work/Life Integration Project.

During his tenure at Ford Motor Company as the director of the Leadership Development Center, Friedman established the Total Leadership program with the objective of enhancing work performance and employee satisfaction. His approach transformed traditional human resource management and fostered a psychologically healthy corporate culture. He has advised various organizations, executives, and individuals, including former Vice President Al Gore and two White House administrations.

Friedman regularly delivers keynote addresses and conducts intensive workshops worldwide on subjects such as leadership, building trust, creating sustainable change, and strategic human resources issues. His teachings break through conventional thinking about work and life, replacing the outdated notion of "work/life balance" with the pursuit of "four-way wins"—an innovative approach that promotes authenticity, integrity, and creativity.

Friedman has been recognized twice as one of HR's Most Influential International Thinkers and as one of the "World's Top 50 Business Thinkers" three times by Thinkers50. In 2015 he won the Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award in the talent management field and has been inducted into the Thinkers 50 Hall of Fame in 2023. His contribution to literature includes more than 50 articles for HBR.org, with one of his pieces listed first among Harvard Business Review's Ideas that Shaped Management in 2013.

Friedman was honored with the Families and Work Institute's Legacy Award in 2013 and has been named one of "America's 25 most influential men for having made things better for working parents" by Working Mother. His book "Leading the Life You Want: Skills for Integrating Work and Life" is a Wall Street Best Seller, and "Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life" has won several book awards. His most recent publication is "Baby Bust, 10th Anniversary Edition: New Choices for Men and Women in Work and Family," published by Wharton School Press in 2024. Listeners from around the U.S. and Canada tune in weekly to his “Work and Life” radio show on SiriusXM.

His academic background includes a B.A. in Psychology from S.U.N.Y. Binghamton and an M.A. in Psychology and Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan. Prior to earning his doctorate in organizational psychology, Friedman spent five years in the mental health field. He continues to serve on a number of boards and maintains active involvement in advising a wide range of companies and public-sector organizations, including the U.S. Departments of Labor and State and the United Nations.