The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership by Steve Farber

Author:Steve Farber
Language: eng
Format: mobi, pdf
Tags: leadership, business
Publisher: Astronaut Projects
Published: 2014-09-06T14:00:00+00:00

18.

This didn’t add up. Forget the apparent fact that Garrison knew who I was—but how the hell did he know where I lived? And what about his seeming preternatural ability with animals—felines, anyway. Was he was running some kind of mammalian messenger service?

I ran over to the window where the cat had just perched and peered down into the dark street. Empty. I had hoped, I guess, to see the dark and mysterious silhouette of Teddy Garrison lurking in the shadows of the alley. It wasn’t going to be that easy.

I took a deep breath—a decent alternative to letting out an anxious wail—and went back to the table, sat, and read the note at least a dozen times:

I know your concern for Janice is heartfelt. I know this because she has told me about you from time to time, and you’ve always sounded like a good coach and friend—and the two go hand in hand. So I hope you’ll understand me when I say that I left XinoniX not for me, but for her.

My mentor once said to me that you need to love the people or you’ll lose the game. Love—contrary to the popular, romantic notion—is not all hearts and flowers. Love, oftentimes, looks, feels, and hurts like a son-of-a-bitch. Especially in business.

I don’t only love Janice as she is today, I love what she’s capable of becoming. Problem is, she’ll never become it as long as I’m around for her to lean on. Janice is the future of the company. She just doesn’t know it yet. And when I found myself in the position of having more confidence in Janice than she had in herself, I saw my resignation as my ultimate leadership opportunity.

Mostly, leadership requires extreme personal engagement, but sometimes it demands an act of self-removal. This is one of those times. If that makes me look—for the time being, anyway—like a cowardly, selfish schmuck, then so be it.

I know she thinks I’ve thrown her into the Jeffers’s den to be eaten alive. Bob has a reputation as a brutal autocrat, and he appears to be the antithesis of the very XinoniX culture that Janice worked so hard to help create. Appearances are misleading.

Jeffers is a brilliant strategist and a superb executive. In other words, he not only plans well, but he also executes the plan—whatever it is—with precision, speed, and focus—all necessary and crucial qualities for the company’s next phase. As a leader of people, though, he’s awful. That’s where Janice comes in.

Janice and Jeffers are perfect for each other and the company. But this is more like an arranged marriage than love at first sight—and I’m the arranger. I would never be able to convince them of their value to each other; they’ll have to discover that for themselves. I believe they will. Right now, Janice sees it as a war.

But she doesn’t need to conquer Bob; she needs to win him. Help her to see the difference, Steve, and you’ll be doing her the favor of a lifetime.

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