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Radical Candor

by Kim Scott

Be a kick-ass boss without losing your humanity

Note: Completely unrelated to the book, if you happen to have Kindle Unlimited, this is the most useful book I have seen on there by many, many miles.

TLDR​

  • This book brings a very detailed, well-formed, and opinionated view to Boss/Employee communication.
  • I think perhaps the most useful part of this book is having something to point at as a reason for your actions. The items in the book make sense, but it almost helps even more just having a common "langauge".
  • I believe wholeheartedly in this book's findings, and we will be enacting them within our teams.

Why?​

This book provides what in some organizations may be a radical idea: actually saying what you think. This provides benefits for both recipient and deliverant, even if it increases some awkwardness.

Who should read?​

This is essentially required knowledge, as we will be talking about it frequently, but you don't necessarily need to read the whole book to understand the principles. Required reading for the management path.

Important concepts​

  • Radical candor consists of two ideas: Care Personally and Challenge Directly. Combining these two in high amounts is Radical Candor.
  • The case is made, and I agree with it, that you cannot truly care about someone personally without directly challenging them when you know of possible improvements they could make. There is a great anecdote regarding having to fire someone for your OWN inability to communicate issues.
  • We will be using the grid extensively below, but the point is that Ruinous Empathy is actually MORE dangerous than Obnoxious Aggression, so when in doubt, say it.

Radical Candor