Blogger A Day Conversation: Hi, Steve. What’s for Breakfast?
It stands to reason that a Blogger a Day call with Extreme Leader, Steve Farber, would take an Extreme form. A telephone didn’t enter the picture at all. It was breakfast when Steve was in Chicago!
This was going to be an Extreme B.A.D. Blogger connection. I packed up myself and my stuff into my car. I put my wallet in my back pocket. I put my key in the ignition. I turned the music up loud.
I drove past Wrigley Field and headed where the breakfast was planned. I couldn’t help thinking on the drive out there of the extreme birthday brunch I had celebrated at the same place — all chocolate, champagne, and one piece of bacon. I promised myself less embarrassing choices when I met the guy from California, I had wanted to meet since this summer.
Arriving at the atrium lobby, I aimed for the restaurant. Then a voice behind me said, “Liz,” and there he was. Thoughtful man, my mind said. I also thought, great smile, extreme shoulders, and a person who hugs when he says hello. I already like Mr. Steve Farber.
We found a table and soon the server, a lovely lady, who seemed part of our party, made sure that we had what we wanted. Not for a second did her presence seem an intrusion. Steve has a way of making the world feel welcome. He smiles a lot, and everyone notices that.
The conversation for me had started much earlier — in the car in my head driving there. As the coffee was poured, I had questions to ask Steve about the characters in his books, Radical Leap and Radical Edge. As a writer and as a reader, I was extremely curious about knowing about one in particular.
“Tell me. Is there really an Agnes?”
Steve paused for a thought, then said, “Agnes is not a real person.”
I told him as best I could what testament that was to his skill as a writer. I tried to explain that I found it quite something that anyone could deliver such a consistent message written in such a consistently believable human voice. I wanted Steve to know that I felt that way about all of his characters, but Agnes was more than a personal favorite. I still wish that I could meet her.
That’s when Steve and I talked about how his books relate to his leadership coaching. His speaking engagements draw lessons from the stories and the characters. Steve asked me how I would do a speech from “Agnes’s Book” Radical Edge. Almost immediately, I said I would structure a speech around the idea of finding one’s personal frequency — that note, the value that wraps around all other values the person holds dear.
Steve, being Steve smiled back at me and gently said “Of course, you go there because that’s where you are. Other folks chose another point completely.” He went on to say how some folks want him to talk only about the WUP — that’s the Wake Up Pad, where folks keep track of the ideas and implications of life as it happens. The WUP I thought. Can’t leave out the WUP!
The problem is that his books are so rich.
We wandered through ideas from speeches and books, to how Steve started blogging, and where he’ll be going over the next two years, when his next book is due to come out.
Somehow, being the leader that Steve is, he managed to get as much of my story as I got of his. It was his story, my story, and the stories of people we knew — all intertwined while we talked about the business of books, and speaking, and blogs, and websites, and future projects. I told Steve what I was doing with Phil. He added his publishing advice to the mix. It made a difference to the plans for Phil’s book.
By the end of the conversation I felt the power of extreme leadership, even though the words had never been mentioned.
I smiled the whole drive home. I don’t remember what we ate, but I don’t think I embarrassed myself in the choices I made.
B.A.D. Blogger Quote
The great, compelling writers are the ones whose voices are unique and whose passion is palpableââ¬âwhatever the subject. Once I figured that out for myself, the process got much easier and . . . more fun. — Steve Farber
Stop by Steve’s Blog, Extreme Leadership, and say hi!
Thanks, Steve, you B.A.D. Blogger!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar
