Author: Steve Farber
Publisher: Kaplan Business
Year Published: 2006
Rating: 
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The Radical Edge is a short business book by Steve Farber, President of Extreme Leadership Inc. It builds on concepts Farber developed in his prior book, The Radical Leap – cultivate Love, generate Energy, inspire Audacity, and provide Proof.
Laid out in 7 chapters, The Radical Edge tells of how Farber spends a day trying to help star salesman turned manager, Cameron Summerfield, and in the process, meets a variety of eclectic business thinkers who live by the radical edge – the “zone of total value, total significance, to one’s self and to others. It’s about achieving the simultaneous fulfillment of three of life’s seemingly incompatible spheres” – your business life, your personal life, your effect on the world.
Summerfield is a 26 year-old “cocky GQ wannabe” who lives only to acquire wealth and status. That was ok when he was a top salesman but now that he’s a manager, his boss and co-workers are fed up with his holier-than-thou attitude. If he doesn’t start developing some emotional intelligence pronto, he’ll be out the door by the end of the week.
During their day excursion, Farber and Summerfield meet a variety of characters including Farber’s beach junkie pal, Smitty; wise sage and restaurant owner, Agnes; waitress and Agnes’ business partner, Mary Ellen, and Farber’s mentor and skater friend, Edg; and pick up sound business advice.
From Smitty, Farber learns the benefits of the Wake-up Pad (WUP), an idea notebook and brainstorming tool that business leaders use to write down the world as they see it – unfiltered. It’s a means of collecting data so that they can go back, reflect on the ideas, and pick out trends and talking points.
From Agnes and Mary Ellen, Farber learns the importance of customer service:
One: be deeply fascinated by the life of every person – customer, employee, colleague – your business touches; and two: be deeply grateful for who they are and what they do.
He also learns that the key to life is to clarify what values and ideals you stand for and how you can make an impact on the world around you. For instance, Mary Ellen explains she’s all about “service” – from her waitress job to her roles as Agnes’ house keeper and business partner, she wants to use her talents to help others. “Service” is the core value she stands for.
And finally, from Agnes and Edg’s group of like-minded business thinkers, Farber learns how to evaluate his efforts.
Don’t judge yourself based on the outcome of your efforts. If you succeed, don’t take credit for it; if you fail, don’t blame yourself. The only thing you take credit for is the fact that you tried.
The book is a quick read, written in a witty, fun style. It’s also a work of fiction, so at points the characters come across as a bit cliche, but they always keep with the book’s “radical edge” theme.
I thought the book paralleled the business blogosphere where many individuals have already recognized the themes that Farber points out. With blogs, anyone can easily document what they observe on a day to day basis and post those results for all to see. Others chime in with comments and trackbacks, and conversations spring up all over the place.
Farber’s concepts in this book are not unique – they’ve been talking points since at least 1999 with The ClueTrain Manifesto and certainly with the growth of the blogosphere. That said, they are important concepts that no business person should ignore.
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