Only through our connectedness to others can we really know and enhance the self. And only through working on the self can we begin to enhance our connectedness to others.
– Harriet Goldhor Lerner

In a special edition of the Harvard Business Review, called The Essential Guide to Leadership, Stewart D. Friedman wrote, “Become a better leader, have a richer life.”

Friedman advises:  “For each of the domains of your life — work, home, community, and self, reflect on how important each is to you, how much time and energy you devote to each, and how satisfied you are in each. Are there discrepancies between what is important to you and how you spend your time and energy?”

He goes on to urge: “Based on the insights you’ve achieved during your four-way reflection, brainstorm a long list of small experiments that may help you move closer to greater satisfaction in all four domains…For example:

• Turning off cell phones during family dinner could help you sharpen your focus on people who matter the most.
  
  
• Exercising several times a week could give you more energy…
  
  
• Preparing for the week ahead on Sunday evenings could help you sleep better and go into the new week refreshed.”

The Exchange Essentials articles collection, Build Your Leadership Capacity, also provides ideas for increasing leadership effectiveness. For example, Meg McNulty offers an important idea for helping increase life satisfaction for everyone in an organization:

“Psychologist Alfred Adler believed that people continually strive for both competence and connection. Organizations have evaluations and other systems to ensure that staff can gauge their competency in their work, and yet how staff are connected with one another is often viewed as less important and perhaps not even considered…Someone needs to tend to this connection.”