Radical Candor – Kim Scott
Recommendation: 8/10. Date read: 8/12/21.
I’m late to the game when it comes to this book. Radical Candor has long been cemented in the business world and catches quite a bit of flack as a buzzword. But criticism, as Nassim Taleb suggests, is a far better indicator that a book is worth reading than silence. Scott’s core concept is that radical candor is the combination of caring personally and challenging directly. The best managers align themselves to this while avoiding ruinous empathy, manipulative insincerity, and obnoxious aggression. This is one of the best all-around resources for managers that I’ve read with insightful sections on responsibilities, how to run meetings, and growth management.
See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.
My Notes:
Empathy and the golden mean:
“Healthy emotional empathy makes for a more caring world. It can nurture social connection, concern, and insight. But unregulated emotional empathy can be the source of distress and burnout; it can also lead to withdrawal and moral apathy.” John Halifax
Responsibilities as a manager:
1) Create a culture of guidance (praise and criticism) that will keep everyone moving in the right direction.
2) Understand what motivates each person on your team well enough to avoid burnout or boredom and keep the team cohesive.
3) Drive results collaboratively.
Radical candor:
Radical candor = care personally + challenge directly
“Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off. You have to accept that sometimes people on your team will be mad at you.” KS
Growth management:
Steep growth trajectory: change agent, ambitious at work, want new opportunities, superstar
Gradual growth trajectory: force for stability, ambitious outside of work, happy in current role, rock star
You need both types on your team. Rockstars are better for roles that require steadiness and accumulated knowledge. Superstar might not have the focus or patience for the same type of project. Best way to keep superstars happy is challenge them and make sure they’re constantly learning. People often shift between growth trajectories at different phases of their life/careers.
“To be successful at growth management, you need to find out what motivates each person on your team. You also need to learn what each person’s longe term ambitions are, and understand how their current circumstances fit into motivations and their life goals.” KS
Don’t over-promote as the only way to reward your best people: “In World War II, the U.S. Air Force took their very best pilots from the front lines and sent them to train new pilots. Over time this strategy dramatically improved the quality and effectiveness of the U.S. Air Force. The Germans lost their air superiority because they flew all their aces until they were shot down; none of them trained new recruits. By 1944 new German pilots had clocked only about half of the three hundred hours an Allied pilot would have flown in training.” KS
Refinement:
“It is only by selection, by elimination, and by emphasis that we get at the real meaning of things.” Georgia O’Keeffe
“The essence of making an idea clear requires a deep understanding not only of the idea but also of the person to whom one is explaining the idea.” KS
You are the exception to the “criticize in private” rule of thumb:
Determine who on your team is comfortable criticizing you and ask them to do it in front of others at staff or all hands meetings. Will demonstrate you want the feedback. “The bigger the team, the more leverage you get out of reacting well to criticism in public.” KS
“Remind yourself going in that no matter how unfair the criticism, your first job is to listen with the intent to understand, not to defend yourself.” KS
Hiring:
“If you’re not dying to hire somebody, don’t make an offer. And, even if you are dying to hire somebody, allow yourself to be overruled by the other interviewers who feel strongly the person should not be hired. In general, a bias towards no is useful when hiring.” KS
Staff meetings:
-Learn: review key metrics (20 minutes)
-Listen: put updates in a shared document (15 minutes)
-Clarify: identify key decisions and debates (30 minutes)