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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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.…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
*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,…
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…
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…
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.…
Radical Candor 101
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…
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…
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…
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…
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:…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
Radical Candor In The News Read articles about and by Kim Scott and the Radical Candor team
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…
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…
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…
"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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
*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…
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…
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…
Many of the people we work with in our workshops ask us what kind of formal performance review process would best support a culture of Radical Candor. This is a…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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'…
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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Radical Candor Resources for a More Radically Candid You
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 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…