Organizational Development, Equity, and Health

Excuse me, but is that your inner radical showing? This is not a question that you are likely to run into every day and probably not a good conversation starter at a party. But it is one that we might want to ask ourselves from time to time. When I first heard the challenge from the University of Alberta President, Dr. Samarasekera, to unleash our inner radical, I assumed she was speaking to a handful of brilliant, thought-provoking, world-class ideators, who are capable of uncovering the secret to success for the next decade or so. My first thought was “this is ridiculous!” I seldom have a good idea, never mind a radical one that is so powerful it can reshape the life of our students or those around us at work. To help me understand what relevance this challenge might have for me and why I should care, I searched for a definition that would resonate more closely with something I am capable of. It turns out that radicals are wildly popular. The term is used in several science