Tempered Radicals:
How People Use Difference to
Inspire Change at Work
Boston: Harvard Business School Press
2001, ix - 221 pp. hardcover
ISBN 0875849059
Debra E. Meyerson writes a compelling book on the
challenges and opportunities of leadership for those who find themselves both
inside a traditional organizational structure yet committed to change. She shares the stories of persons she calls
“tempered radicals,” and relates their experiences within organizations where
strategy and diligence were necessary to effect change. Unlike other literature on leadership that
focuses primarily on the role of a giant leader within an organization, this
book encourages the work of each person in the art of making change. Meyerson structures the book around defining
who tempered radicals are, how they work to make change, and what challenges
they face in accomplishing these changes.
Meyerson defines
tempered radicals as “organizational insiders” who are treated as outsiders
because their values are “at odds with the dominant culture” (5). Meyerson’s analysis of how tempered radicals
make change is powerful because of its use of data gathered in interviews with
particular tempered radicals in their contexts. Tempered radicals, Meyerson believes, make a difference in
existing organizations by practicing methods of leadership that provide
opportunities for significant systemic change that are broad and
long-lasting. There are necessary
strategies, however, for how to develop and eventually implement these changes
throughout an organization. Meyerson
addresses these strategies.
Meyerson’s examination begins by attempting to understand
the tempered radical. She first
discusses the important role of self in determining the way in which a person
goes about developing an agenda for change.
Meyerson believes that persons are both very concretely their “selves”
and very susceptible to “social cues” from the outside, that the “selves” are
both “stable” and “mutable,” and that tempered radicals live within this
tension (13). Meyerson’s argument is
that through action, the core self of a person is made real through tangible
signs of the existence and importance of this self. She writes, “When people act in ways that outwardly express a
valued part of their selves, they make that part of their selves “real””
(14). In this way, Meyerson describes
the tempered radical by emphasizing the essential place of core values and
identity in decision making, as well as the importance of acting on these values.
Meyerson describes a
variety of helpful strategies used by tempered radicals to make a difference in
their organizations. One way in which
persons inspire change is quietly, or through often little noticed gestures or
actions. In the chapter, “Resisting
Quietly and Staying True to One’s Self,” Meyerson points out that these quiet
efforts are often unnoticed or considered less important than the bold actions
of others. Yet, in reality, they often
help to set the necessary stage for bolder actions. She writes, “All types of efforts, including quiet forms of
resistance, can and often do contribute to learning and adaptation, even
though history’s depiction of social change does not give much credit to the
role of these more mundane behind-the-scenes actions” (38). Meyerson divides these types of quiet
resistance into three categories: psychological resistance, self-expressions as
resistance, and behind-the-scenes resistance.
Some examples involve psychological armoring for the battery of
hostility that a tempered radical often faces, quiet self-expression through
dress, office décor or language, and the behind-the-scenes sharing of
information and resources to provide an opportunity for an innovative idea to
take hold.
Another tactic for making a difference used by tempered
radicals is the art of negotiation.
Essential to negotiating with others, however, is understanding the
difference between one’s own “non-negotiables” and “negotiables.” Understanding the non-negotiables to be
those things that compromise one’s “core values or identity” will enable one to
maneuver through negotiations with others (91). Knowing one’s obligations, priorities, and fears is a necessity
when it comes to making decisions about which battles to fight and how to fight
them. Meyerson writes, “When it comes
time to evaluate a course of action – what to do, how far to push, what to give
up – this kind of self-knowledge is invaluable” (89).
Meyerson describes the importance of group formation when
working toward change. Individuals of
various positions within an organization are able to do much to make change,
but groups are often the vehicles through which strategies of change
occur. It is often within groups that
persons who would normally not feel comfortable voicing their views or concerns
come together in strength and with new possibilities for action. It is often within groups that creative
energy brings about new and different answers to questions not formerly arrived
at by the individuals themselves. It is
also within groups that the power to negotiate can be leveraged in ways often
not possible with individuals.
Meyerson’s distinction here is helpful.
Meyerson emphasizes the role of small wins in effecting
larger change. In the chapter,
“Leveraging Small Wins,” she writes, “First and foremost, small wins are
powerful because they are doable” (104).
Small wins can both effect change as well as affect attitudes that may
shift thinking and action toward larger wins in the future. Small steps can make real the possibility of
larger change, can affect a wider vision, and can broaden a base of support to
concern larger numbers of people. This
is what Meyerson calls the bundling of several small wins to create something
larger and more powerful. She writes,
“The most effective way tempered radicals extend the impact of small wins is by
making explicit their significance or bundling several of them together and
retrospectively framing them as a coherent package or ‘program’ that serves the
same ends. This gives individual small
wins greater punch” (111).
Meyerson’s book offers
powerful insights into how tempered radicals can be agents of change within
larger, more traditional structures that often tend to resist such change. Persons at any level of organizational work
will find in this book valuable tools for making a difference. Religious leaders in a variety of contexts,
as well as any leader who seeks to understand and produce change within an
organization, will be compelled by this book and will find immediate ways to
use its wisdom in the work of inspiring change.
Cynthia D. Weems
Pastor
Metropolitan Avenue
United Methodist Church, Kansas City, KS