Customer Reviews

The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership

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As a college student I was not thrilled to be given the assignment of reading a book on the topic of leadership. I therefore turned to a friend and business owner who does a lot of reading on this subject. He recommended Steve Farber's The Radical Leap: a Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership and I loved every page of it! The Radical Leap's parable proved to be interesting and easy to read, a wonderful change from most of my text books. After finishing the book in one day I was excited at the prospect of using Farber's advice when I start my full time job after graduating this semester. Using a parable in which the characters discuss the meaning of leadership and how to become an extreme leader Farber teaches his readers how to become such a leader. He provides excellent examples and raises interesting questions for the reader to ponder. Too often when someone reads an informative book they reach the end and wonder what exactly they should have learned or how it applies to their life. Even if they do understand the concepts, they don't know where or how to start applying them. Such is not the case with Farber's book. If you need help applying Farber's ideas after reading The Radical Leap he gives you the specific questions you need to answer. As a person who was hesitant about reading anything on the topic of leadership I can honestly say that The Radical Leap: a Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership by Steve Farber has given me a new perspective. This book is excellent and I recommend it to anyone who is serious about pursuing a position of leadership or who wants to gain additional insight on the topic leadership. This book gives you a new and positive outlook at the workplace.

Imagine someone audacious enough to say that "trust and love and humility are hardcore business principles."

All around us, in the boardrooms and business offices of any number of formerly credible companies, many of the players have literally shredded the concept of honesty - the building block of trust; the only love is the love of compensation packages and power; and humility is a foreign concept long ago discarded for megalomania and self-righteousness and celebrity status.

Imagine someone audacious enough to suggest that people who work in business can change the world for the better.

Doing whatever it takes to meet or exceed analysts' short-term earnings projections to raise the value of the stock and increase shareholder value, now that is a readily observable hardcore business principle. Or at a more micro level, as one boss said to me early on in my career, "Your job is to help me make my bonus."

Imagine someone audacious enough to suggest that we need to reclaim our right and power to set an example of what's right in business and everywhere else, and to challenge the examples that are not.

In the past few years in business and in government, we have been confronted daily with evidence of an American culture in which fear drives behavior to conform rather than confront, in which intimidation greets those who would choose to live by personal codes of ethics.

And so it is a radical leap to suggest that trust and love and humility, and a desire to change the world, and the right to stand up for personal values have anything other than a wishful place in business.

Enter Steve, one of the duo of main characters in Steve Farber's The Radical Leap; A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership.

Steve, a 40-something leadership management consultant tutored under the wing and influence of some of the leading thinkers and writers in the field of leadership, is disillusioned by the lack of meaningful change among his clients. Despite his best efforts to preach and teach the art and the practice of exemplary leadership - mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspiration - he finds himself surrendering to a world in which the title leader has been cheapened by so many merely posing as leaders, by so many who simultaneously empower employees and warn them "don't screw up and check with me before you do anything."

The curious irony is that a casual polling of 20-somethings along the boardwalk in his San Diego beach neighborhood reveals that this generation - and by extension our next generation of leaders - look for and aspire to the very qualities in a leader that Steve has been preaching.

Enter Edg, the second of the main characters. Edg, a scruffy 60-something on a skateboard, first overhears our leadership management consultant as he is conducting his informal poll along the boardwalk. He wants to participate in the poll too, and offers his definition of leadership. And so begins the audacious lesson for Steve and for all of us, the lucky observers, as we watch the story played in 7 scenes over 7 days - each scene ripe with its own wisdom.

We watch Steve rekindle and reawaken his love for his work, his clients and his desire to shape the world for the better. We watch Edg coach Steve as he comes to the rescue of a corporate damsel in distress who is about to throw in the towel on her job as COO. We watch Steve help our damsel get reconnected with the love of who she is and what she stands for - love that energizes her to have the audacity to prove it to herself and her boss through her actions. And we learn the secrets and the source of Edg's own tutelage in leadership.

Edg, somehow, speaks from a place of experience and meaning and wisdom about the hardcore business principles of extreme leadership. "Leadership is intensely personal and requires us to live the ideas we espouse - in irrefutable ways - every day of our lives, up to and beyond the point of fear." "We are our own worst con artist, if we use safety and security in the same sentence as leadership." "When necessary, the Extreme Leaders will risk his or her own safety and security in order to grow the business and - just as important - develop as a human being." Edg challenges Steve and all of us, to "take our power back and become each one of us Extreme Leaders in our own right. We have to set an example of what's right in business and everywhere else. We have to be audacious enough to follow the examples we respect and challenge the ones we don't." And that is the foundation of the Radical Leap that Edg challenges us all to take.

The 60-somethings seem to know this. The 20-somethings seem to want this. It is the many of us in the middle, who are cynical or conflicted or searching for more meaning, who could benefit from Edg's challenge. Edg's audacity will remind us and inspire us to love what we fundamentally stand for. It will help us inspire those whom we hope to lead, and it will energize us to have the audacity us to take action to shape the world for the better.

Buy The Radical Leap; A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership; Observe and absorb its lessons; refer often to the Daily Handbook for Extreme Leaders which is offered at the end as a guide for putting extreme leadership into practice; buy lots of copies, give them to your colleagues and employees; set aside some time to talk about the principles and how you might put them into practice so that you can each, in your own way, change the world for the better.

And let us hope that this first week in A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership is followed by many more that will inspire us all to take the risks - the Radical Leap - to develop as human beings and leaders.

I first heard of this topic during a talk by Steve Farber at a recent conference. I was so excited about this approach that the book was on order before I left the conference! Someone has said that there is nothing new in this book. In a way, that is correct, as these concepts have been discussed over many years. However, I admire Steve's talent at putting these concepts together in a way that is so simple and direct. Following the genre of a fictional short story to put forth his theories is just a fun way to get these theories across.

I happen to strongly believe in the four major points, particularly the premise that says you have to love, i.e, have a passion for, what you are doing. If you do not have a passion for what you are doing, you are doing a major disservice to your coworkers and your customers, so go do something else! Steve highlights that concept very well, as well as the following precepts of energy, audacity and proof.

For those who are serious about self-examination and taking actions to become more effective leaders, this book will provide tremendous insight towards those goals.

In the rough and tumble world of heavy civil construction using phrases like "cultivate love" and "inspire audacity" require some imagination to keep people involved. This book was very entertaining, reading rather like a novel that shows you how to take leadership to the real world. I am now a disciple of "13 pages". Many managers can "run" jobs but few can really lead.
Read this book and you are on your way to knowing what leadership is about.

Brilliant! Steve Farber is an awesome story teller. I would recommend this book to anybody who loves a good story and wants to see the light! I found this book to be uplifting and a true eye opener. Read it. You'll love it.

Steve Farber has managed to give birth to a book which might have had Richard Bach's ILLUSIONS and WHO MOVED MY CHEESE as parents. I encourage everyone to read, learn and practice Farber's formula in Radical Leap: a personal lesson in extreme leadership. Here's a personal lesson that can bring you to a transpersonal way of sharing your life with "inspired audacity" among other qualities. I'm looking forward to more from Steve's delightful fount of wisdom and practicality. An inspiring must read!

I was the designer for this book cover. I design a lot books so I don't normally have a chance to read many of them. After designing the cover and reading the jacket copy I knew I had to sit down and read this book. Boy was I glad! This book uses such an entertaining story with a friendly approach that you do not even know you are learning. It helped me view my career with a renewed eye and helped inspire me to go in new and interesting directions. I put this book up with some of my other favorite business reads like: The Circle of Inspiration and The Tipping Point. I recommend this quick read to everyone.

What an inspiring leadership book! LEAP - simple leadership principles but effective and yet tough to follow and make it a reality in the real business world. I was very much encouraged by the book at the time I was facing corporate back slash for standing firm on ethical issue. We need more of such book! More, Mr. Farber!

Earlier this spring I completed my first reading of The Leadership Challenge and as a result had become a real fan of Kouzes and Posner. I had also (a few weeks prior) completed the Leadership Challenge LPI as a part of an Executive Training program at the Darden School. A coworker dropped The Radical Leap on my desk and mentioned that I might be interested. That night I inhaled the story in one sitting and held on to the book for reference for a period of another four days. (The owner then wrestled it from my possession) The story captivated me, challenged what I thought were my strengths, exposed personal opportunities as well as the folly of some of my perceived "weaknesses". I also just flat-out pumped me up. Steve Farber has rolled up the best of Kouzes and Posner, Marcus Aurilius, Churchill, Mr Ed, and Phil Jackson. He has woven them into a tale of open-mindedness, willingness and personal responsibility.
If you're a leader, it'll rock your world and validate your daily struggle.
Who will benefit from it? Teachers, coaches, managers, supervisors, parents, and heck, just about anyone else who deals with human beings on a regular basis.
Thanks Steve, you've changed MY world.

As a business owner, public speaker and marketing blogger -- I read a lot of business books. Don't let the size and parable-style of this book fool you. It is the most inspiring, brilliant business book I have ever read.

Many business books get you to think. This book gets you to think, feel and take action. I can't imagine someone reading this book and not being a better leader for it.

Farber's characters remind us of the kind of leader we aspired to be when we first got into business. It teaches us what we need to do to find that passion and drive again and finally, it pushes us to not just read it...but to do it.

It's a book about leadership, success, and ultimately, it is a book about love.

Not only will you love it...you'll find yourself giving it as a gift to every business person you know. It's that good.