Author: wilson.3938

The Radical Leap by Steve Farber – Text Review – Matthew Wilson

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This fiction story is about a Leadership Consultant named Steve and an unexpected stranger giving him leadership advice. Steve was at the beach one day when he met a stereotypical surfer named Edg. Steve did not expect to learn anything from this surfer, but Edg started to talk about the acronym LEAP. Over the course of several days, Edg taught Steve the acronym LEAP (Love, Energy, Audacity, and Proof), and the meaning behind each word.

The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership: Farber, Steve: 9780989300216: Amazon.com: Books

https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Leap-Personal-Extreme-Leadership/dp/0989300218

Although this book is primarily about the LEAP mindset, the story includes themes of identity. Steve loves his job as a Leadership Consultant, but he has been losing his passion and motivation for it over time. Edg is the opposite of Steve because he is content and sure with his life choices.

From the beginning of the story, the audience knows that Steve is losing his identity. Edg is the first one to start talking to Steve, and Edg starts to talk about the LEAP mindset. Steve becomes interested in what this “beach bum” surfer has to say about leadership. As Edg is teaching Steve about LEAP, Steve starts to realize that Edg has a solid identity of himself. Each day they talk, Steve sees more and more of how confident Edg is in himself, despite looking like someone who does not have their life together.

Not only does Steve recognize Edg and his strong identity, but he also regains his own identity and strengthens it. Through Edg and the leadership mindset he is teaching, Steve begins to find motivation and passion for his job again. Steve is not only implementing the mindset that Edg taught him, but he his excited and motivated to help and teach others to take the radical LEAP.

Through this story of mindset and unlikely friends, the author is showing the audience how people can realize or strengthen their own identity by building relationships with people, helping people, and creating a more positive way to think.

Context Presentation – Gender Equality – Matt Wilson

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Over time women have gained more rights and power in America. This can be seen from the 19th Amendment, which allowed women to vote, the Equal Pay Act, which prohibits pay discrimination between men and women, and now the first female Vice President of the United States will take office (History.com Editors). The equalization of women and men is a real-life example of what Simone de Beauvoir wrote in “The Second Sex,” in that the men and women are beginning to “realize the reciprocity of their relations” (Simone de Beauvoir). The example of a reciprocal relationship that Simone de Beauvoir used in her writing is a native person being seen as a “stranger” to other native people from different lands. Over time both of these natives and their people realize, or understand, their relationship through “wars, festivals, trading, treaties, and contests among tribes, nations,  and classes” (Simone de Beauvoir). The relationship that women have been striving for is one of equality, and this is the relationship that men have to learn, respect, and understand. 

 

Although men and women have been successfully realizing their relationship of equality in the United States over time, there is still inequality between them, which can be seen in the wage gap. Typically, the wage gap has attempted to be explained by discrimination against women or the career choices of women (Madison Sosa, Page 5). In the study by Madison Sosa, the conclusion is drawn that it is most likely a mixture of both discrimination and career choice that have led to the gap in wage between men and women (Madison Sosa, Page 28). This study is important to keep in mind because it shows that men and women have not completely realized their relationship as equals. Although there have been significant steps towards equality, men remain “the one” and women remain “the others” (Simone de Beauvoir). 

 

 

Works Cited 

Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex / Simone De Beauvoir. Vintage Books, 1974.  

History.com Editors. “Women’s History Milestones: A Timeline.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 26 Feb. 2019, www.history.com/topics/womens-history/womens-history-us-timeline.  

Sosa, Madison. “Gender Pay Gap Analysis.” Electronic Thesis or Dissertation. University of  Toledo, 2018. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. 15 Jan 2021.