Book Byte #53 "Radical Candor" by Kim Scott
Be a Kick-Arse Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
📣 Curious Quotes from the Author
“Ultimately, though, bosses are responsible for results. They achieve these results not by doing all the work themselves but by guiding the people on their teams. Bosses guide a team to achieve results.”
“Guidance, team, and results: these are the responsibilities of any boss.”
“Radical Candor” is what happens when you put “Care Personally” and “Challenge Directly” together.”
“A good rule of thumb for any relationship is to leave three unimportant things unsaid each day.”
“Make sure that you are seeing each person on your team with fresh eyes every day. People evolve, and so your relationships must evolve with them. Care personally; don’t put people in boxes and leave them there.”
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
“When bosses are too invested in everyone getting along they also fail to encourage the people on their team to criticize one another other for fear of sowing discord. They create the kind of work environment where being "nice" is prioritized at the expense of critiquing and therefore improving actual performance.”
“The essence of leadership is not getting overwhelmed by circumstances.”
“You may be worried about earning their respect, and that’s natural. Unfortunately, though, being overly focused on respect can backfire because it’ll make you feel extra defensive when criticized. If, on the other hand, you can listen to the criticism and react well to it, both trust and respect will follow.”
“Probably the most important thing you can do to build trust is to spend a little time alone with each of your direct reports on a regular basis.”
“Sometimes, the greatest gift you can give your team is to let them go home.”
“The best way to keep superstars happy is to challenge them and make sure they are constantly learning.”
📚 Cognition of the Book’s Big Idea:
Let us conclude this Blink with a question: If you awoke in the middle of the night, would you be able to identify the two dimensions of Radical Candor (®)? If you answered "Yes." If we care personally and challenge directly, we will have completed our task. Radical Candor(™) revolves around two important features.
We looked at connections, guidance, teamwork, and outcomes. We've offered advice for how you can build closer relationships at work, solicit and give effective guidance as a team, help each person on your team find a role that takes them a step in the direction of their dreams and allows the team to collaborate effectively, and ensure your team achieves exceptional results - all by applying the ideals of Radical Candor. Knowing this notion and incorporating it into your professional arsenal can help you become a better leader and, as a result, your team will succeed.
🛠️Fixing the Tech Industry
We all know we could use feedback, but we are also scared to death to receive any. As Tech People, we tend to take criticism very hard. We tend to people please, and any negative feedback could be a direct rebuttal to our personality types.
But finding a boss who can give good feedback in a way that won’t hurt our feelings for our job or our leadership is someone who should be treasured. You only get a few of those people in your lifetime. Work hard to lead those around you and offer constructive feedback in the right time and place, and they’ll love you for it.
🤝Collaborate with others with this Social Media Prompt:
What was the best feedback session you ever participated in? What made it so great that you would want to repeat it with every session you do from that day forward?
Full Book Summary Available for Paying Members Below