Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean

by Kim Malone Scott

The most important thing I think you can do for somebody who’s really good and who’s really being counted on is to point out to them when they’re not—when their work isn’t good enough. And to do it very clearly and to articulate why . . . and to get them back on track.

the fundamental attribution error, which highlights the role of personal traits rather than external causes.

as I described in the previous two sections: ask for criticism before giving it, and offer more praise than criticism.

Be humble, helpful, offer guidance in person and immediately, praise in public,

criticize in private, and don’t personalize. Make it clear that the problem is not due to some...

Share stories when you’ve been criticized for so...

I struggled with this at Google, where we were hiring people right out of college to do dull customer-support work. I tried convincing them that we were “funding creativity a nickel at a time.” One young woman who’d studied philosophy in college, called BS immediately. “Look, the job is a little boring,” she said. “Let’s just admit that. It’s OK. Plutarch laid bricks. Spinoza ground lenses. Tedium is

part of life.” I loved her approach to finding meaning, but it was unique to her. A slogan like “Spinoza ground lenses” would not have been inspiring for the broader team.

your job is not to provide purpose but instead to get to know each of your direct reports well enough to understand how each one derives meaning from their work.

“Whatsoever thy hand fin-deth to do, do it with thy might.”

The best way to keep superstars happy is to challenge them and make sure they are constantly learning.

you given her Radically Candid guidance, do you understand the impact of Peggy’s performance on her colleagues, and have you sought advice from others?

First, you have to listen to the ideas that people on your team have and create a culture in which they listen to each other. Next, you have to create space in which ideas can be sharpened and clarified, to make sure these

ideas don’t get crushed before everyone fully understands their potential usefulness. But just because an idea is easy to understand doesn’t mean it’s a good one. Next, you have to debate ideas and test them more rigorously. Then you need to decide—quickly, but not too quickly. Since not everyone will have been involved in the listen-clarify-debate-decide part of the cycle for every idea, the next step is to bring the broader team along. You have to persuade those who weren’t involved in a decision that it was a good one, so that everyone can execute it effectively. Then, having executed, you have to learn from the results, whether or not you did the right thing, and start the whole process over again.