Getting Candid About Radical Candor: A Book Review
Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity (Revised Edition, 2019), the New York Times Best-seller by Silicon Valley veteran Kim Scott, is a management and leadership book that promotes a balance of both caring personally (i.e. showing empathy) and challenging directly in professional relationships. The approaches outlined in Radical Candor are meant to foster trust between people leaders and their direct reports to help create an environment where workers can grow and succeed. I recall the book being passed around my office and plugged heavily by our upper management. I finally picked up a copy from the corporate library just six months before coming into my first formal management position. I didn’t know then how relevant it would be to the next chapter of my career.
I was initially skeptical. Radical Candor pushes into its particular jargon hard and fast, seemingly attempting to conceptually trademark otherwise generic-sounding psychobabble terms like “Obnoxious Aggression,” “Manipulative Insincerity,” and “Ruinous Empathy.” I struggled at first to accept the value of the book’s basic premise. Is not being an asshole a “radical” concept? How about caring about your colleagues or just being a decent human being? The core message of Radical Candor is, essentially, to be honest with people without being a dick. And, while I would like to think this guidance would be obvious to most people, apparently the need for revisiting the golden rule persists.
Scott quickly establishes her Silicon Valley bona fides, referencing her management experience (on both the giving and receiving ends) at well-known tech shops including Google, Apple, Twitter, and others. She name-drops friends, colleagues, or mentors like Sergei Brin, Sheryl Sandberg and Ray Dalio. I did note with some interest her experiences working in Israel and Japan, two countries in which I have had significant experiences, though not in the corporate sphere. Scott has built upon the book’s success by launching a leadership coaching/executive education company, which helps businesses put Radical Candor’s philosophy into practice.
Where the book did start to grab my attention was in explaining the difference between managing “rockstars” and “superstars,” a distinction based on people’s potential and workplace performance. Superstars are individuals who perform exceptionally well but also have the potential to grow and take on greater responsibilities (including those of leadership) in the future. Superstars consistently deliver high-quality work, demonstrate a strong work ethic, and show a willingness to learn and improve. Rockstars, on the other hand, are also individuals who perform exceptionally well but, unlike superstars, may not necessarily have the desire or potential to grow beyond their current roles. Rockstars excel in their specific areas of expertise and contribute significantly to the team or organization, but the idea of seeking additional challenges or development opportunities may not be a strong intrinsic motivation.
This metaphor provided an effective reminder of the subjective nature of ambition/motivation. Scott emphasizes the importance of recognizing and supporting superstars and rockstars within an organization and provides direction on managing them differently throughout Radical Candor. While superstars have the potential to drive innovation and lead an organization forward, rockstars play a crucial role in maintaining stability and excellence in their areas of expertise. Effective leadership involves understanding the strengths and aspirations of both types of employees and providing them with the necessary support and feedback to thrive in their roles. In my career, I’ve generally kept to what the book would describe as a “gradual growth trajectory” (I prefer the term organic). It’s an approach that values steadiness and the accumulation of specialized knowledge over time. Now in a management role, I must be sensitive to the different needs and desires of my reports and work with them to help harness their strengths and achieve their professional development goals.
Managing feedback is another major focus of Radical Candor that I found instructive, as this is an area in which I have been learning a great deal since becoming a people leader. In challenging reports directly, leaders must be willing to provide honest feedback. This means giving praise when it’s due and offering constructive criticism when necessary. It’s also important for managers to solicit criticism from their reports to improve their leadership abilities. This is particularly helpful for new managers like me, as I want my reports to feel that they can challenge me and the more first-hand experience I have receiving criticism, the better sense I’ll have of how my guidance lands for others. Scott provides principles and tactics to guide leaders in providing specific, timely feedback and advises managers not to fall into the trap of “Ruinous Empathy,’ in which you let emotion prevent you from being honest, thereby robbing people of the chance to grow in their skills, responsibility, and impact.
The later parts of the book focus on broader aspects of creating a culture of Radical Candor and provide practical strategies for implementing the book’s principles in one-on-one meetings, team meetings, and performance reviews. Scott provides five key dynamics for successful teams (psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, impact) and other useful insights (such as the difference between influence and authority). Overall, Radical Candor offers a framework for building genuine (i.e. strong, trusting) relationships in the workplace and fostering a culture of open communication and continuous improvement.
Like many of you (I imagine), I’ve had my share of experience with bad managers, those driven by ego and insensitive to the mental well-being of their reports, never mind their professional development goals, managers uninterested in or perhaps intimidated by the idea of engaging their reports in building trusting relationships. On the flip side, I’ve seen the considerable benefits that come from working with leaders who take an active interest in working collaboratively with their reports in ways that espouse the principles of Radical Candor. I hope to be more like the latter than the former and I’m confident that Kim Scott’s book has been a helpful tool in shaping my approach to leadership and building my managerial skills in the best interest of my team and my organization.
