Blog | Radical Candor

‘Improvising Radical Candor,’ Presented By Radical Candor and Second City Works, Takes You From Haha to Aha

After leading hundreds of workshops with teams from around the world, we’ve found that the best way to get better at Radical Candor is to practice it. Because while Radical Candor is a simple idea, it’s not so easy for most of us humans to implement it in our everyday lives. We’ve found that one of the best ways to practice the principles of Radical Candor is through improvisation. And we're excited to announce Improvising Radical Candor, a new partnership…

Radical Candor is Partnering With ilume to Transform Relationships at Work in Australia and New Zealand

From best-selling book to boots on the ground, over the past few years, we at Radical Candor have delivered workshops and keynotes to companies around the world. By providing teams with a shared vocabulary to help them succeed, Radical Candor is transforming the relationships people have at work. Now, Radical Candor is partnering with leadership coaching experts ilume to bring the concepts of caring personally and challenging directly to Australia and New Zealand. “Because Radical Candor is on a mission to ‘rid the world…

Feedback Is Crucial To Success In School Systems

By Amy Yamner Jenkins | Chief Operating Officer | Education Elements, Inc. I remember the day quite clearly: the door to my portable classroom opened and my principal walked in. My heart skipped a beat — it was my first year teaching and the first time any school leader had come into my room. I was immediately worried about the clipboard in her hand and the uncapped pen. I was convinced that whatever I was doing would be wrong, that the moment would be…

Rather Than a Micromanager or Absentee Manager, Be a Thought Partner

We call managers who have low, almost non-existent involvement in their team’s work absentee managers. Those with extremely (maybe excruciatingly) close involvement are micromanagers. And in between those are the thought partners, the ones who empower, enable and encourage their teams to do the best work of their lives. How can you determine where you fall on this spectrum so you can learn how to move in the right direction instead of being a micromanager or an absentee manager? To help you figure out when you’re…

There’s No Such Thing as a B Player; There Is the Wrong Person In the Wrong Job

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 because they stay in the wrong job too long. Bosses keep this kind of employee on for several reasons: they’re not sure they can find someone better; it takes time and effort to train new people; and they like the person and feel it would be unfair to encourage them to find…

It’s Not Radical Candor If You Don’t Care Personally

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 Radical Candor is to create a new normal where guidance is both kind and clear, not to reinforce bad behavior. This means that if you don’t Care Personally about the person you’re delivering feedback to, you’re exhibiting Obnoxious Aggression, not Radical Candor. Ever since the book Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss…

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. Similar to the old adage that’s been instilled in us since kindergarten, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” many operate from the idea that “the client always knows best.” Unfortunately, this can sometimes be a straight line to Ruinous Empathy — when you care personally about…

Radical Candor is Growing Because Relationships May Not Scale, But Culture Does

What started as an epiphany after receiving candid advice from a stranger (“it’s not mean, it’s clear”) has not only become a bestselling book – Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity – it’s also blossomed into a company dedicated to bringing Radical Candor to teams around the world. Over the past year, we’ve seen a huge appetite for the management philosophy and its practices, and as a result, Radical Candor the company is growing. While almost all the problems we’ve seen companies encounter are covered…

What Jonathan Courtney, Co-Founder of AJ&Smart, Learned From Silicon Valley’s Top CEO Coach On Being a Better Boss

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being a guest on Jonathan Courtney’s podcast, The Product Breakfast Club to discuss my experiences as an author and CEO coach teaching Radical Candor in Silicon Valley and around the world. Below is a transcript of our conversation about the concepts of Radical Candor and how they can empower teams to do the best work of their lives. For those of you who’d prefer to listen than read, check out the podcast episode. I’ll…

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 how to use the framework as a way to guide difficult conversations to avoid falling into Ruinous Empathy, Obnoxious Aggression, or Manipulative Insincerity. When it comes to difficult conversations, some of the most difficult are around gender. I have found that gender politics and fear of tears pushes men away from being as radically candid with…

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