Toronto – We’re often told that the key to success in life involves advancing in our careers, but why do feel so stuck and unfulfilled when everything seems to be going right? In her new book, The Possible Self A Leader's Guide to Personal Development, Maja Djikic, an associate professor of organizational behaviour and human resource management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, explains that in order to discover our purpose and achieve real, lasting change, we need to move beyond narrowly targeted ideas and strategies like changing our mindset or slightly altering our behavior, and instead go deeper and focus on our innate desires. Prof. Djikic claims that sustained change can only happen when all five parts of ourselves move in the same direction and at the same time. She introduces a transformational system called the Wheel of Change—a simple, five-segment plan that corresponds with the five key parts of ourselves: Desires, Actions, Emotions, Thoughts, and Body. By understanding the mechanisms of these five integral parts, you will be able to escape the paradox of success without happiness and move towards your own path of fulfilling self-development.
The Possible Self is published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
A personality psychologist specializing in adult development, Prof. Djikic is executive director of the Self-Development Lab at the Rotman School, which provides feedback-based learning activities aimed at developing and nurturing in all students the communicative, interactive and interpersonal skills essential to the high-value added collaborative problem solver and decision maker in contemporary organizations. In addition to her work with students in the Rotman School’s degree programs, she teaches in several executive education programs at the Rotman School including serving as academic director of the Rotman Executive Coaching Certificate program. Her research has been featured in over 50 media outlets (including The New York Times, Salon, Slate, Scientific American Mind), in 15 countries. Recently, Prof. Djikic was named to the list of the Thinkers50 Radar for 2024, a cohort of 30 up-and-coming thinkers from around the world whose ideas have the potential to make an important impact on management thinking in the future.
Advance Praise
“A fresh new approach to the age-old problem of self-change. I recommend it to anyone interested in lifelong development.” — Ellen J. Langer, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; Fellow at the Sloan Foundation; and author of The Mindful Body
“A deftly articulated map and compass to the joys and difficulties of making changes, small and large, to one’s ways of being, told, importantly, in a voice at once therapeutic and awakening—a voice you want to hear when you want a partner to think and feel with.” — Mihnea C. Moldoveanu, Professor of Economic Analysis and Policy and Marcel Desautels Professor of Integrative Thinking, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
“Panoramic in insight and practical in approach, this book will gently guide you through your own self-development journey. Whether your aim is to better understand or to change yourself, here you’ll find the tools you need.” — Keith Oatley, Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Psychology, University of Toronto
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For more information:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
E-mail:mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca