Each quarter I post a review of a leadership/motivational book I recommend to colleagues and friends. Some may be old favorites, others are hot off the press. I am always open to suggestions for books to review. If you have a favorite you'd like to share with others, please contact me.

The Power of Full Engagement
Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal
New York: Free Press (a Division of Simon and Schuster), 222 pages
By Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
Reviewed by Jerilyn Willin

We are a nation of business marathoners--available 24/7, unable to vacation without laptop and cell phone. How much we can jam into a day is almost a competitive sport.

Within the first pages of The Power of Full Engagement, authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz urge us to compare long distance runners: “gaunt, sallow, slightly sunken,” with sprinters, “powerful, bursting with energy, eager to push themselves to their limits.” We must, they contend “learn to live our lives as a series of sprints--fully engaged for periods of time, and then fully disengaged and seeking renewal before jumping back into the fray....”

Training System, Loehr and Schwartz have worked with hundreds of senior executives and managers. Loehr has also observed and coached hundreds of athletes--many world class with familiar names such as Seles, Sampras, Mears, and Mancini.

The foundation of the Full Engagement Model is simple: energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance. Everything we do requires energy. It is our most precious resource. Yet we fail to take it into account at work or in our personal lives. Until we crash--when our health or activities are compromised--we assume a bottomless well of energy.

Full engagement means being physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned with a purpose beyond our immediate self interest. Our capacity to be fully engaged depends on our ability to periodically disengage--consciously creating stopping points in our days that cannot be violated.

The concept of maximizing performance by alternating periods of activity with rest is an ancient one, found in training manuals circa AD200. Loehr and Schwartz modernize and support the concept with research, examples, principles, and practices in a short, easy-to-read book for practitioner and layman.

Part I takes us through the dynamics of Full Engagement which are based on four key energy management principles critical to building capacity:

1. Full Engagement requires drawing on four separate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. All four are critical.
2. Energy capacity diminishes both with overuse and underuse. We must balance energy expenditure with energy renewal.
3. To build capacity, we must push beyond normal limits, training as elite athletes do--straining muscles, then repairing tears to build stronger fiber.
4. Positive Energy Rituals, specific routines for managing energy, are key to full engagement and sustained high performance.

Part II lays out the heart of the program, the three step Corporate Athlete® Training System:

Step 1. Defining Purpose

• Creating a valued-based vision to live purposely, not in reactionary mode.

Step 2. Facing Truth

• Acknowledging the gap between who we are and who we want to be. Recognizing the consequences of energy management choices in food, drink, relationships and work.

Step 3. Taking Action

• Designing a personal development plan, grounded in positive rituals, to close the gap.

The Power of Full Engagement is a worthwhile read for leaders, coaches, and clients. It is rich with examples, case studies, and reflection questions. Each chapter ends with a recap of important points for a quick refresher. A Resource section provides worksheets for the practical and very “do-able” exercises encouraged throughout the book.

This review by Jerilyn Willin first appeared in EXECUTIVE COACH magazine in 2003.

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