Tempered Radicals: How Everyday Leaders Inspire Change at Work

Some of us were around in the 70s, and some of us are much more mainstream now than we were then. I found this a very helpful book for self reflection and inspiration to get back to my activist values. The esperiences of a diverse group of changemakers helped me to look at where I'd been and what kind of person I want to be in my workplace. It helped me look at some of the difficulties I've had actualizing my dreams as I've risen through the ranks in a mainstream government position. It gave me hope to continue.

If you are working within an organization, to try and change that organization for the better, this is the book for you. It lays out the day to day problems, realities, and rewards that change makers experience as they lead, succeed, and fail in attempting small and large change efforts. It explains the tightropes we walk, as we try and establish credibility in the language the organization values, while at the same time we work within the system for change, skirting the dangers of being co-opted and losing sight of our change goals, or pushing too hard for change, and being discredited and marginalized. Vivid examples of more and less radical change makers include architects, bankers, executives, academics, and even artists. This book is at once a comfort and a guide as we struggle with the ups and downs of trying to make our organizations better. Unlike many books written for practitioners, this one is is based on years of very careful research. Meyerson is a tenured faculty member at Stanford University, and she writes from the heart, with little jargon and much insight. I assign this book to MBAs, and I read it for myself. Professor Joanne Martin, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business