How to Navigate the Messy Middle Between Ruinous Empathy & Obnoxious Aggression 6 | 49
Caught in the middle of a boss who’s all care but no action and a team lead who’s full steam ahead with no brakes? That’s a workplace tightrope no one…
How Ruinous Empathy Ruins Praise 6 | 36
Praise can be powerful, but when it’s vague, generic, or something you can say to a dog like "good job," it can backfire and do more harm than good. On…
What Is Empathy In the Workplace? (Not to Be Confused with Ruinous Empathy)
By Indiana Lee, a freelance journalist specializing in business operations, leadership, communication, and marketing who regularly contributes workplace culture article to Radical Candor. Leadership expectations have shifted, especially in recent…
Navigating Workplace Tensions: Stuck Between Ruinous Empathy and Obnoxious Aggression
Edited By Brandi Neal, Radical Candor podcast writer and producer, and director of content creation for Radical Candor. This article about being caught between a boss embodying Ruinous Empathy and…
Video Tip: Move Your Feedback Away from Ruinous Empathy and Do This Instead
Do you think your feedback is often Ruinously Empathetic? If so, you're not alone. In our experience, most feedback mistakes fall in the Ruinous Empathy quadrant. Ruinous Empathy is what…
Stuck In a Ruinous Empathy Rut 5 | 11
On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, the team delves into a mash-up of Ruinous Empathy and Manipulative Insincerity. Ruinous Empathy—being “nice” but ultimately unhelpful and unkind—is rampant among…
Podcast Season 4, Mini Episode 1: The Bob Story, a Tale of Ruinous Empathy
Ruinous Empathy is what happens when you want to spare someone’s short-term feelings, so you don’t tell them something they need to know. You Care Personally, but fail to Challenge…
Is A Too-Nice Workplace Culture of Ruinous Empathy Just as Damaging as a Toxic One?
A toxic workplace culture is the top reason people cite for leaving their jobs, and it was the main catalyst for the Great Resignation, a phenomenon that resulted in tens…
How Can I Stop My Ruinous Empathy?
For those of you who are familiar with our Radical Candor framework, you’ll remember that Ruinous Empathy is in the upper left. High Care Personally, low Challenge Directly. It categorizes…
Praise & Ruinous Empathy
Praise can be Ruinously Empathetic when bosses try to be “nice” and get things wrong. Below are a few cautionary tales of how trying to make a person feel good…
Ruinous Empathy Can Wreck Client Relationships
Our Candor Coaches, myself included, frequently field questions about how to apply the principles of Radical Candor beyond employee-manager relationships. Often we are asked how to practice Radical Candor with clients.…
People Labeled ‘B Players’ May Be in the Wrong Job — Here’s How to Tell
Everyone can be excellent at something. That’s very different from saying anyone can be good at anything—definitely not true. Sadly, lots of people never find work they are truly excellent at…
What is Ruinous Empathy?
The Ruinous Empathy® quadrant of Radical Candor is the one that causes the most unintended destruction to relationships. What is Ruinous Empathy? It's “nice” but it's not kind. In fact,…
Video: A Ruinous Empathy Story
Kim shares a story about a time that she describes as the worst moment of her career. She learns a hard lesson after being Ruinously Empathetic with one of her employees for…
Ruinous Empathy is a Waste of Your Time
Hi there - I'm Russ, and this is my first blog post for Candor, Incorporated. My Little League baseball players call me Coach Russ, and I'm going to run with…
Video: A Ruinous Empathy Story
Many of us struggle with Ruinous Empathy. We want to build and maintain relationships with people, so we don't want to say things that upset them. But if you focus…
Ruinous Empathy and Recruiting, A Story
Seven years ago, before launching Femgineer and having Kim Scott on FemgineerTV, I had to make my first sales hire for my second startup, BizeeBee. I had never hired a salesperson…
Criticism & Ruinous Empathy
When bosses care too much about hurting their employees’ feelings, they will avoid giving criticism. Eventually, it becomes too late to fix this Ruinously Empathetic situation. Here’s an example: Bob…
Podcast Episode 3: Ruinous Empathy and Praise
Have you ever received praise that made it feel like you were just getting a pat on the head? Or have you ever given someone praise because you wanted them…
Podcast Episode 4: Ruinous Empathy and Criticism
Giving criticism isn't usually something that people look forward to, but it needs to be done! If you don't give criticism when it's needed, you end up hurting people you care…
Video: A Ruinous Empathy Story
Have you ever held back from saying what you really thought at work because you didn't want to hurt someone's feelings? Have you seen something that needed improvement but didn't…
Your ‘Nice’ Workplace Culture is Fraught With False Harmony 5 | 27
Can a “nice” workplace culture be as toxic as an abusive one? This past summer, our content intern Katie Bartlett (hi Katie!) wrote a piece about the workplace culture trend…
Video: Ruinous Empathy Leads to Obnoxious Aggression
We recently shared a video of Russ telling a story about Ruinous Empathy. He talked about a time when he withheld his direct challenge in order to be "nice," but the story doesn't…
Video: A Ruinous Empathy Story
Stephanie Usry cared personally about her co-worker -- she was one of her best friends! Because of this, Stephanie found herself in a tricky situation. She was so focused on showing that…
Radical Candor “Asks” Jeff Wetzler: The Foundational Skill of Asking Questions 6 | 26
On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim Scott sits down with Jeff Wetzler, author of Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs…
How to Communicate With Your Family During the Holidays 5 | 30
Holiday communication with your family can be rife with stress. And while you love your family, let’s be frank, family togetherness during the holidays often goes sideways. So much so…
Why It’s Important for Leaders to Double Down On Radical Candor During Times of Uncertainty
*This post about how to apply Radical Candor in a crisis was originally written at the beginning of the pandemic. In the wake of recent mass layoffs at tech companies,…
Navigating Feedback Disagreements at Work 6 | 40
In this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, we tackle a challenge that's at the heart of Radical Candor: what to do when you receive feedback you don't agree with.…
From Change Agent to Change Enabler: Aman Kochar On Leadership & Growth 7 | 9
Ever find yourself avoiding a tough conversation at work because, well…it’s just easier? We get it. But what if leaning into discomfort could actually make things better—for you, your team,…
Practice Radical Candor to Combat These 3 Toxic Workplace Behaviors
A new survey from FlexJobs noted that 68% of people who recently quit their jobs did so without having another job lined up. What's more, the number one reason people…
Acting Like a Jerk by Not Caring Personally is a Radical Candor Fail
What makes Radical Candor radical is that it’s a deviation from the norm, which tends to fall somewhere between acting like a jerk and avoiding confrontation altogether. The purpose of…
Navigating Feedback Conversations On Diverse Teams
By Nahla Davies, a software developer and tech writer. Before devoting her work full-time to technical writing, she managed—among other intriguing things—to serve as a lead programmer at an Inc.…
Frequently Asked Questions
Radical Candor 101
Why Your Meetings Suck (And How to Fix Them): Insights from Dr. Steven Rogelberg 6 | 37
Explore the surprising science of meetings and how to make them suck less with Dr. Steven G. Rogelberg, a renowned organizational psychologist and author of The Surprising Science of Meetings…
Better Management Training is the Key to Re-Engaging Quiet Quitters
Low employee engagement — largely due to poor management training — costs the global economy $8.8 trillion. That’s 9% of global GDP, according to Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global…
Radical Candor and the Candor Canary at Gem
We have a great story to share with you about a company that rolled out Radical Candor in their organization. Gem, a Los Angeles-based blockchain company focused on healthcare and…
Video Tip: What is Radical Candor? Learn the Basic Principles In 6 Minutes
What is Radical Candor? People often get confused about what Radical Candor really means. It's not brutal honesty. Radical Candor really just means saying what you think while also giving…
Radical Candor in Kabul
I received a great question from a reader recently that I wanted to share. I've been sending your article to all the leaders I know. One of them asked this:…
4 Steps to Building Strong Relationships With Your Peers, Boss & Direct Reports
The importance of good work relationships rooted in psychological safety cannot be overstated. Your ability to build strong work relationships determines the quality of everything that follows. A psychologically safe…
Why You Can’t Skimp On Radically Candid Performance Development Conversations
This post on performance development originally appeared on Bonusly, a company building tools to help people feel a sense of purpose and progress at work. Most everyone has had a…
An Open Letter to James Damore
James, you’ve touched the third rail that is gender. I’m writing not to add to the abuse pouring down on you, but because I believe that third rail is hurting…
6 Ways to Roll Out Radical Candor Like a Boss
We love working closely with teams rolling out Radical Candor, and offer coaching, training and customized workshops. We can help teach you to: Share the ideas with your team and…
The Power of Radical Candor in Agile Methodologies
By Nahla Davies, a software developer and tech writer. Before devoting her work full-time to technical writing, she managed—among other intriguing things—to serve as a lead programmer at an Inc.…
6 Common Ways We Rationalize Staying Silent When We’d Be Better Off Speaking Up
The pressure to be silent comes in a dizzying array of disguises, internal and external. Here are some common excuses or rationalizations I’ve used for remaining silent when it would…
4 Ways to Help New Managers Succeed
I’ve had a 22-year operational management career, and naturally, I’ve had a lot of new managers in my organizations over the years. ‘New managers,’ in this case, means ‘new-to-management’ not…
How to Use the Radical Candor Framework to Gauge Your Feedback and Keep It On Track
Kim Scott is the author of Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity and Radical Respect: How to Work Together Better and co-founder of Radical Candor, a company that helps people…
Leading With Kindness & Clarity During a Crisis 2 | 1
The Radical Candor podcast version 2.0 is here! Our first episode is a special discussion that originally aired as a live conversation between Kim Scott and our Improvising Radical Candor…
Brutal Honesty and Radical Candor: 6 Ways You’re Getting Radical Candor Wrong and 6 Ways to Get It Right
We have learned something really important from the way that the press sometimes describes Radical Candor as brutal honesty. And we want your advice on how to communicate this idea…
Feedback, the Law, and Mandated Manipulative Insincerity
I spend a lot of time these days showing people how to put the Radical Candor framework of “Care Personally + Challenge Directly” into practice by providing frequent feedback, and…
What Does Gen Z Want at Work? Radical Candor is Just the Beginning
If you’re a manager today, you’re likely managing Gen Z workers, and asking yourself: What does Gen Z want at work? As Marketing advisor Chantel Adams says on TikTok, “Simply…
Radical Candor in “The Sound of Music”
We're starting a Media Fridays series where we'll show videos, songs, TV show clips, etc. that are fun examples of Radical Candor, Obnoxious Aggression, Ruinous Empathy, or Manipulative Insincerity. First up,…
When the PIP Feels Disingenuous: The Ethics of Managing Out 7 | 11
Trapped between an HR-driven process that feels like a sham and a direct report who’s not meeting expectations? That’s a management nightmare. When a boss hands you a struggling employee…
Use the Radical Candor Framework as a Compass to Guide Your Feedback Conversations — Not to Label People
This post about how to use Radical Candor to guide conversations to a more productive place is by Russ Laraway, author of When They Win, You Win: Being a Great…
7 Leadership Communication Skills for Managing a Remote Team
By Gaurav Sharma, founder and CEO of Attrock, a results-driven digital marketing company he grew an agency from 5-figure to 7-figure revenue in just two years. He also contributes to…
Context Matters — Share Your Radical Candor Stories 3 | 2
On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Amy and Jason discuss why it's so important to share your stories with your team. Show some vulnerability. Your personal stories will explain,…
How to Get and Give Feedback Using the Radical Candor Order of Operations
There are four simple steps for how to give and receive feedback you need to excel at work. You might call it the solution to your feedback wipeouts. We call…
How to Be the Boss You Wish You’d Had
By Indiana Lee, a freelance journalist specializing in business operations, leadership, and marketing, including how to fix communications issues in the workplace. Congratulations — you're the boss! You have the…
7 Real Ways Radical Candor Transforms Relationships, According to AI
We asked ChatGPT how Radical Candor can transform relationships in people's work and personal lives. For the most part, it did a decent job. Though, some edits and additions have…
In The News
Radical Candor In The News Read articles about and by Kim Scott and the Radical Candor team
Our Approach
Telling People What to Do Doesn't Work The Radical Candor® approach — Caring Personally while Challenging Directly — can move you from a command-and-control culture to one of collaboration. Developed…
Identify the Elephant 5 | 28
Kim, Jason and Amy answer a listener's question about how to identify the elephant in the room when a direct report's performance isn't meeting expectations. Kim and Jason roleplay how…
A Big Change for Candor, Inc.
This year was a big year for Candor, Inc. We launched a podcast, Radical Candor: How Not To Hate the Boss You Have or Be the Boss You Hate. We…
How to Practice Radical Candor With Strangers
"I can see how Radical Candor works when I already have a relationship... but what about with people I barely know? Isn’t it too risky to give Radical Candor to…
What to do when you’re being Radically Candid but everybody thinks you’re a jerk…
Dozens of people have asked me some version of this question over the past few days. Here are some ideas… Remember, you may be wrong. Make sure that when you…
Video: Kim’s Manipulative Insincerity Story
Remember that the labels that we use for the Radical Candor framework (Radical Candor, Ruinous Empathy, Obnoxious Aggression, Manipulative Insincerity) are not labels for people. They're ways to describe specific…
Workplace Harassment: Tackling Toxicity at Work 6 | 30
Kim and Jason tackle a challenging listener question about dealing with severe workplace harassment. They explore the importance of managerial action, share insights on effective documentation, and provide practical advice…
Digging In to Toxic Stew 2 | 6
Radical Candor is a simple concept that's not always easy to put into practice, and readers regularly reach out to us for advice about how to Care Personally and Challenge…
What Is Performance Feedback? How to Have Performance Development & Management Conversations
By Paul Fayad, co-founder of ELM Learning and Positive Leader. Paul has extensively implemented Radical Candor principles both within his company and leadership workshops, witnessing profound improvements in communication and…
The Beatles Probably Didn’t “Work it Out”
We've been listening to "We can work it out" by the Beatles recently. The Beatles really seemed to want to work it out, but with their lack of Radical Candor, we're pretty sure…
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
We've all been taught since we were kids, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." But now in the workplace, we need to hear when…
Podcast Episode 9: Showing Appreciation Makes Work More Fun
In honor of Employee Appreciation Day, this Friday, March 3, Russ and Kim talk about cultivating a sense of appreciation within your team. They explain why many bosses aren't great at this…
Creating a Culture of Radical Candor In Schools Can Help Address Inequities
*This blog post about the need for Radical Candor in schools is by Katie Novak and Mirko Chardin, authors of Equity by Design: The Power and Promise of UDL. Our…
Video: You Have Spinach in Your Teeth
If you’re already familiar with the Radical Candor framework, you know that we’ve labeled the axes “Challenge Directly” and “Care Personally”. Radically Candid praise and criticism is high on both…
How to Respond to Negative Feedback at Work That You Disagree With
Kim Scott is the author of Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity and Radical Respect: How to Work Together Better and co-founder of Radical Candor, a company that helps people put…
13 Things to Consider In Your 2025 Performance Review Process
Kim Scott is the author of Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity and Radical Respect: How to Work Together Better and co-founder of Radical Candor, a company that helps people put…
6 Tips for Giving Helpful Feedback
The best feedback is Radically Candid. It Challenges Directly while showing you Care Personally. To make that easier to do, we break it down and say that Radical Candor is…
We Have Some Feedback About Feedforward 5 | 23
On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss the trend of prioritizing future-focused feedforward over backward-looking feedback. Feedback vs. feedforward — both of these words…
6 Key Lessons for Every New Manager
CONGRATULATIONS! You’re now a manager! You’ve worked hard, done well and been promoted to lead a team. That in and of itself is a HUGE accomplishment. But it’s only the…
Communication Training: The Most Overlooked (and Most Important) Workplace Training
By Indiana Lee, a freelance journalist specializing in business operations, leadership, communication, and marketing. No business with multiple employees succeeds in silence. Communication in the workplace is vital to the…
Radical Candor and Software Engineers: Interview with ZenHub
We frequently hear about companies who are excited about Radical Candor and trying it out in their organizations. Each time, our first reaction is to ask, “Wow! How’s it working…
Manipulative Insincerity, Talking ABOUT People Instead of TO Them 2 | 14
Manipulative Insincerity is what happens when you neither Care Personally nor Challenge Directly. It’s praise that is non-specific and insincere or criticism that is neither clear nor kind. It’s the…
Podcast Episode 21: More Time Hiring = Less Time Firing
Building a great team is critical for bosses, but how do you bring on the right people? Interviewing and hiring is so hard to do -- in this episode, Kim…
Oversharing at Work: When TMI Tanks Trust 6 | 45
Let’s get into it: oversharing at work — we’ve all done it, and we’ve all cringed after. But here’s the tea: when we spill sensitive info without thinking, we’re not…
Feedback vs. Feedforward — Here’s Why I Don’t Like Either Word to Describe Radical Candor
There's been a lot of chatter lately about feedback vs. feedforward. Words matter. I don’t love the word feedback, but because it’s commonly used to show people what to do…
Research Confirms It — People Actually Do Want Feedback, But How You Give It Matters
While the thought of giving or getting feedback might conjure up dread, or as one friend said to me when I told her where I worked, "Hearing the word 'feedback'…
What is Radical Candor?
Radical Candor® is what happens when you show someone that you Care Personally while you Challenge Directly, without being aggressive or insincere. Radical Candor really just means saying what you…
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Aaron Dimmock
Aaron Dimmock strives to humbly be himself in service of others so we may all become better human beings. He believes that by creating cultures of candor, we enable each…
Bina Martin
Bina Martin is a teacher, director, actor, writer, corporate facilitator and learning designer with over 20 years of experience across these varied fields. She is dedicated to what she calls…