Steve Farber, leadership speaker, consultant, and bestselling author, celebrates more than three decades of leadership development work with a continued focus on credibility, trust, and the daily practice of keeping promises. Through keynote speaking, consulting, executive coaching, and books including The Radical Promise, Farber explores how leaders can build relationships and cultures where people can rely on one another.
Farber’s journey into leadership development began in 1989, following his experience running a financial services company. He went on to serve as director of service programs at an international training consultancy before spending six years as vice president of a business training, consulting, and professional development organization. It was during this period that he developed lasting relationships with mentors whose influence would become part of his continuing leadership journey.
In 2000, Farber established Extreme Leadership, Inc., and later founded The Extreme Leadership Institute, extending his work with leaders and organizations across technology, financial services, manufacturing, health care, hospitality, entertainment, retail, government, nonprofits, and education. He remains active in leadership development through speaking, coaching, and organizational work.
Throughout that journey, Farber’s philosophy has centered on the idea that leadership is experienced through what people do, how they treat others, and whether their actions create confidence and connection. His work brings together love, credibility, energy, audacity, and practical action, encouraging leaders at every level to consider the influence they can have through their everyday choices.
“Leadership is ultimately about the promises we make to people, whether we call them promises or not,” Farber says. “Every commitment is an opportunity to build credibility, and every promise we keep gives people another reason to trust us.”
That philosophy has unfolded across Farber’s books, beginning with The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership. Written as a business parable, the book introduced his Radical LEAP framework and explored leadership through Love, Energy, Audacity, and Proof. His subsequent books, including The Radical Edge, Greater Than Yourself, and Love Is Just Damn Good Business, continued his exploration of the human dimensions of leadership and the relationship between meaningful work, strong relationships, and organizational performance.
His newest book, The Radical Promise, brings that long-running work into a focused examination of credibility. Co-authored with Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, Farber’s longtime friends and mentors, the book reflects a professional relationship that began in the early 1990s and has developed across decades of shared work in values-based leadership.
Written as a novel and leadership parable, The Radical Promise invites readers to experience its ideas through characters, situations, and reflection. “Its central premise is straightforward,” says Farber. “Do what you say you will do.” The idea extends well beyond organizational leadership, reaching into relationships, family life, and the commitments people make to themselves.
“Credibility isn’t a personality trait you either have or don’t have. It’s a daily practice. The promises you make, the commitments you honor, and the way you show up for people become the evidence of who you are as a leader,” Farber adds.
That perspective also informs Farber’s approach to leadership development. His keynotes, workshops, and coaching encourage leaders to examine their own behavior and consider the commitments that matter most in their work and lives. The emphasis is on reflection followed by action. This means noticing the promises made to colleagues, customers, teams, families, and oneself, then considering how consistently those commitments are honored.
For Farber, credibility develops through ordinary moments. A leader follows through on a commitment, a colleague keeps an agreement, a manager creates space for a team member to contribute, or a person chooses to honor a promise made to themselves. Each moment can strengthen the level of trust people experience in a relationship.
More than 30 years into his leadership journey, Farber continues to return to that practical foundation. His work, from his earliest leadership programs to The Radical Promise, reflects an enduring interest in helping people understand leadership as a daily practice of connection, responsibility, and action.
The broader invitation is simple. “Consider the promises you make, then consider what happens when people can count on you to keep them,” Farber remarks. “That’s where credibility becomes more than an idea. It becomes a way of leading, working, relating to others, and creating the conditions for people to do their best work.”
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