Leadership

Time for a Life-Work Course Correction

By Sean Silverthorne

Updated on: December 26, 2008 / 8:34 AM EST / MoneyWatch

Pencil, paper, and a dose honest reflection can make you a better manager as well as a better person in the coming year.

In Three Steps to be a Better Leader in 2009, on Harvard Business Publishing, Wharton School professor Stew Friedman lays out the process in more detail than shown here:

Look back at where you have come from
Define your personal leadership vision
Take the four-way view

The last involves understanding how your time is spent today (work, home, community, self) and mapping out a plan to allocate more time for what you really feel is important in life.

At the start of a new year this simple self-evaluation "is a necessary component of your foundation as you cultivate your leadership identity and advance your leadership capacity to the next level," says Friedman.