I also liked this book because the author used her premise to package her ideas so that her tempered radicalism around race, gender, and other legally protected groups could be better heard by others. I came from academia too (and even received my PhD from Michigan where she had an early appointment in her career) but left that environment because of the oppression of free thinking and any kind of difference. This background added to my wish that this book had been around 10 years ago. I might have better succeeded in that environment if I had had this framework from which to work.
Although I like this book, I did not give the book 4 or 5 stars because the best of her book and the most important aspect of her premise was saved until last - the downside of the "tempered" approach. I do believe that revolutionary results can be achieved by evolutionary steps - small steps can achieve great things as they add up without the major heartburn or resistance that a revolution can cause. However, maybe evolution is not the best means to the ends and that cannot be decided until one decides whom they are and what they are about and decide whether tempered or full scale radicalism is what they want to do. This is a choice and is worthy of exposing at the beginning of the book. So although I may have succeeded in academia if I had had her premise from which to work, I would not have been happy because I would not have been true to me and the essence of who I was or am.
Evolution vs. revolution. To choose one must first know what one is willing to give up.
I strongly recommend this book!
While many who don't "fit in" with the corporate culture choose to assimilate or leave, Tempered Radicals offers an inspiring alternative. In this provocative book, Debra Meyerson argues that this tension-between expressing our "whole selves" and building careers in companies that leave little room for differences-can pave the way for learning, leadership, and positive change in organizations.
Based on fifteen years of research and observation, Tempered Radicals reveals that adaptive, diverse, family-friendly, and socially responsible workplaces are built not by revolutionaries but by those she calls "tempered radicals"-people who successfully walk the tightrope between conformity and rebellion. Whereas "untempered" radicals use drama and heroics to effect change, these individuals work toward transformational ends with incremental means; whereas radicals lead episodically, tempered radicals lead every day-with conviction, patience, and courage.
Through stories of tempered radicals from doctors to teachers to CEOs to entrepreneurs, Meyerson illustrates how these "everyday leaders" stick to their values, assert their agendas, and provoke learning and change without jeopardizing hard-won careers. Whether one's difference stems from race, gender, sexual orientation, values, beliefs, or social perspectives, the book presents a spectrum of effective responses to the pressure to conform that range from resisting quietly to leveraging "small wins" to mobilizing others in legitimate but powerful ways.
Putting self-realization and change within everyone's reach, this book shows how to turn threats to our identities into opportunities to make a positive difference in our companies and in the world.
Debra E. Meyerson is visiting Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, and at the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization within Stanford's School of Engineering. She is also affiliated faculty at the Center for Gender in Organizations at the Simmons Graduate School of Management. She lives in Northern California.