Schwartz began his career as a writer in 1975 and spent 25 years as a journalist. He was a columnist for The New York Post, an Associate Editor at Newsweek, a reporter for The New York Times, and a staff writer at New York Magazine and at Esquire. In 1988, he coauthored the #1 worldwide bestseller The Art of the Deal with Donald Trump.

In 1995, Schwartz wrote What Really Matters Searching for Wisdom in America and in 1998 he coauthored Risking Failure, Surviving Success, with Michael Eisner, then CEO of The Walt Disney Company.

In 1999, Schwartz joined LGE Performance Systems, a training company, where he served as president until 2003. That same year, Tony coauthored The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy Not Time, with LGE chairman Jim Loehr. The book became a #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller, spent eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into 28 languages.

Schwartz founded The Energy Project in 2003, and launched The Energy Project Europe in 2005, with headquarters outside London. The company’s clients have included Ernst & Young, Google, Nokia, Sony, Toyota, Gap, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Barclays Capital, Procter & Gamble, Ford, the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Los Angeles Police Department, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Kaiser Permanente, the Cleveland Clinic and Save the Children. Tony has delivered dozens of keynotes to audiences around the world and has done leadership work and coaching with more than two dozen CEOS.

In October, 2007, Schwartz’s article “Manage Energy Not Time: The Science of Stamina” co-authored with The Energy Project's COO, Catherine McCarthy, was published in the Harvard Business Review. The article describes the impact of The Energy Project curriculum on engagement and performance at three Fortune 500 companies. In June, 2010, Schwartz published another article in the Harvard Business Review called "The Productivity Paradox: How Sony Pictures Gets More Out of People by Demanding Less," which outlines how Sony Pictures transformed their organization by implementing The Energy Project's training.

Schwartz’s newest book, The Way We're Working Isn't Working: Fueling the Four Needs that Energize Great Performance, coauthored with Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy, came out in May, 2010 and was an instant New York Times Bestseller.

The Art of the Deal with Donald Trump (Random House 1987)What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America (Bantam, 1995)Risking Failure, Surviving Success with Michael Eisner (Random House, 1998)The Power of Full Engagement with Jim Loehr (Free Press, 2003)The Way We're Working Isn't Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance (Free Press, 2010)