The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership

This is just another one of those nigh-on useless leadership books that tells a story (poorly) to try and illustrate basic leadership points you already know. And I walked away with some things I need to do. Let me try to explain that, starting with the first half.

You’ve all read one of these types of books. My first experience (purchased by the CEO of our company – the way many of us are introduced to these books) was Who Moved My Cheese. This was quickly followed by Gung Ho (also from the CEO). Then I had friends pushing other ones on me. Mind you, I had seen enough that I didn’t pursue these superficial panacea inducers on my own. But they work at some level for some people. Likewise, this book was given by a friend and boss show more who was going to work somewhere else. So, I recently dove in to see what he saw in the book. (I do respect him, so I respect his decision to provide me the book.) And I found all the things that I have learned to hate from these books. A cobbled together story, superficial leadership concepts, and poor writing. In this case, that inferior writing (and let me quickly add, I mean that the fiction/story is poorly told; the literary devices are too transparent; and the humor is flat) is made even worse by the writer’s conceit of trying to be hip/edgy/I’m-not-sure-what-he’s-trying-for. Quote from the intro “I wanted to write something a little…well…grittier. A little funkier, maybe.” Let’s see how well he did. Page two, he is talking to a girl taking surveys and wearing a bikini (giggle, giggle – my how gritty) “…I said, feeling a bit hopeful that I was about to enter into a classic middle-aged male fantasy scenario, if you know what I mean.” And suddenly, we all see the Monty Python team saying “Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.” That scene just hurts, and is exactly what is wrong throughout this book. (That, and the fact that there really isn’t anything new in it.)

And, as I mentioned, I’ve come away with some things to do and things to change. Here is my theory – there are two important things about being a good leader of change (because that is really all that matters.) First is keeping your mind open to ideas no matter what you’re doing (whether it be taking a shower, reading a business book, listening to Mahler), and second is being ready for those moments to hit – to take advantage of them (luck is as much about being ready to take advantage of moments than just being in that right place.) And my reading this book at this particular time is about listening (no matter how bored I was with the content), recognizing that it applied, and moving forward with the ideas. Yeah, what the author is proposing (his LEAP concept – cultivate Love, generate Energy, inspire Audacity, and provide Proof [notice how hard he had to force that acronym]) is absolutely nothing new, and the content around this concept adds very little. But revisiting old things sometimes makes us realize we need to get back to those basics. And that is what this book happened to do for me. All that being said, I have yet to find a parable book I would recommend. Add this one to the list. show less

Short and fun to read. Conversational tone.

"In one respect, at least, I'm a creature of habit: every day I'm in town, I head for the waterfront."

I included this book in my book: The 100 Best Business Books of All Time. www.100bestbiz.com.