Works
- Tempered Radicals: How People Use Difference to Inspire Change at Work, 2001
In Tactics of Organizational Politics
Ideas
Tempered radicals. Tempered radicals are people who want to succeed inside their organizations and also want to change them, radical in their aims and tempered in their methods. They avoid open confrontation and work through quiet, persistent moves, and Meyerson describes the result as evolutionary change that builds through small wins.
Variable-term opportunism. Tempered radicals stay ready to seize unexpected short-term openings while also working deliberately toward longer-term change, so they can act when circumstances favor them.
What it explains
Meyerson explains how people without senior authority can move an organization over years: by staying inside, choosing low-key moves, accumulating small wins, and acting when an opening appears. The book draws on her interviews with people working for change inside organizations.