A Good Book, Part II

Following up on yesterday’s post, here is an interview with the author of the book profiled.

An excerpt.

“What was the impetus for writing Practically Radical?

“I want Practically Radical to be a manifesto for change and a manual for making it happen, at a moment in business and social history when change is the name of the game. We're all still struggling to learn lessons from the catastrophic meltdown of the last few years. I started to worry that too many organizations and leaders were learning the wrong lessons--they were becoming conservative and risk-averse, they were learning to resist innovation as opposed to embracing it as the only way out of our funk. I hope readers will use Practically Radical as a resource to think bigger and lead smarter. I have tried to offer a set of ideas and a collection of case studies about how to make big positive change in difficult times.

“How has the business world, and the world at large, changed since you wrote your last book, Mavericks at Work?

“Polly LaBarre and I wrote Mavericks at Work at a moment when the economy in general and the startup world in particular were booming. The spirit of the book was encapsulated by the famous quote that led off Google's IPO prospectus: "Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one." The narrative of that time, and the driving theme of the book, was starting from scratch and taking on the corporate establishment.

“Times are different today. The defining challenge is whether leaders can make deep-seated change in long-established organizations. Sure, startups still matter--Facebook is today what Google was five years ago. But the long-term health of the economy also depends on whether or not the giants companies and institutions of the economy can make the transformation to a new era of technology, markets, and business culture. That's the challenge I focus on in this book.”