The Few, The Absent, The Tempered Radicals

I googled Tempered Radicals and did not find many entries in News. To date there are only 47 entries. Almost every article referred to reviewing the book that Professor Debra Meyerson wrote earlier in this decade. Why is there so little information in a popular search on the topic? Here’s insight from an article written by Mica Schneider in the March 11, 2002 Business Week.

Perhaps the most disquieting tendency the researchers unearthed is that MBAs say they would leave companies whose values they can't stomach rather than staying and trying to exert a positive influence. "Most MBAs indicate that they would simply opt out and find another job," the report says. "The Enron fiasco is showing that there are going to be serious cases where an organization's values are disputed, or disregarded," notes Welsh. "What do we want people to do in those situations? Not run away. We want them to stick up for their values and try to resolve the conflict."

I think the mobility of professionals upward in an organization compounded by opportunities to move to other organizations works against the concept of tempered radicals. Think about it. If you move up the ladder in an organization you are meeting new people (who are also mobile) and if you move to another organization (populated by a mobile population that is advancing or voting with their feet to other organizations) there are not too many people around who have the time horizons of a tempered radical.

Tempered radicals are moving at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crock-pot speed while we and everyone else is moving at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven speed. When we as a class look in the mirror, we see a lot of diversity, unified by a shared mutual tendency to advance to another position and/or institution/organization. I think tempered radicals is a power concept but it is concept that is reflective of the past rather than looking forward.

The romantic in me really hopes tempered radicals are out there but the realist me thinks they channel their energy in today's environment to updating their resumes. I imagine the Internet doesn't help as job search engines and job sites tempt folks. I hope I am wrong on this but somebody think why there are so few entries for tempered radicals if there are so many of them?