Practically Radical

Practically Radicalis a manifesto for change and a manual for making it happen'in an era when change is the name of the game. Businesspeople everywhere are engaging in a dramatic "rethink" of how they lead, work, and get results. In an age of fierce competition and stubborn recession, the status quo just doesn't cut it. But how do you break new ground when there is so much pressure to do things the same way as everyone else? Using his years of experience and thought leadership in the business world, the cofounder and founding editor of one of the world's most admired business magazines, Fast Company, offers radical ideas and practical advice to help you fix what's wrong with your organization, launch new initiatives with the best chance to succeed, and rethink the logic of leadership itself. Practically Radicalgoes deep inside twenty-five for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations to find out how they've made remarkable strides in tough circumstances. They include IBM, Zappos, Swatch, the Girl Scouts, Interpol, big-city hospitals, fast-growing banks, and high-flying airlines. These organizations have answered the make-or-break questions facing leaders in every field: Do you see opportunities the competition doesn't see? The most successful organizations embrace one-of-a-kind ideas in a world filled with me-too thinking. Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas? Practices that are routine in one field can be revolutionary when they migrate to another field. Are you the most of anything? Companies used to be comfortable in the middle of the road. Today, the middle of the road is the road to ruin. Are you getting the best contributions from the most people? It may be lonely at the top, but change is not a game best played by loners.

William C. Taylor is a cofounder of Fast Company and coauthor (with Polly LaBarre) of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win. A graduate of Princeton University and the MIT Sloan School of Management, he hosts a blog on being "Practically Radical" on HarvardBusiness Online. He lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with his wife and two daughters.