The Radical Candor Podcast

On this episode of the Radical Candor Podcast, we’re taking a break from our GSD Wheel series and welcoming back to the podcast Russ Laraway, author of the book When They Win, You Win: Being a Great Manager is Simpler Than You Think, coming out June 7, 2022. You can pre-order it now! You likely know Russ best as the OG co-host with Kim of season one of the Radical Candor Podcast. Russ is currently chief people officer at Goodwater Capital; and also is the creator of Career Conversations; which is covered in Radical Candor, and to which Russ dedicates nearly 100 pages of his new book. Kim and Russ discuss how to make every manager (measurably) great and to rid the world of assclown managers everywhere.

Listen to the episode:

It’s time for part two of how to clarify your thinking for yourself and others as part of the Get Sh*t Done Wheel (listen to part one). On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss how to leverage staff meetings and think time to clarify your ideas.

Listen to the episode:

Once you have created a culture of listening, the next step in the Radical Candor Get Sh*t Done Wheel is to push yourself and your direct reports to understand and convey thoughts and ideas more clearly. Trying to solve a problem that hasn’t been clearly defined is not likely to result in a good solution; debating a half-baked idea is likely to discourage it. On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss the two most important things to do when clarifying an idea.

Listen to the episode:

Our next several episodes of the Radical Candor podcast are going to be shorter explorations of the nuts-and-bolts details about each step of the Get Shit Done Wheel. First up is listening. Kim, Jason and Amy discuss how to create a culture of listening because if you can get your team members to listen to one another, they’ll fix things that you as the boss didn’t even know were broken.

Listen to the episode:

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss one of the most perplexing management dilemmas you might experience: when a person who ought to be taking on more and more responsibility and performing better every day is instead doing the opposite. This person is doing excellent work on a steep growth trajectory — maybe they even want to be your boss someday — and you’ve put in charge of the most important work or assigned them to solve your most difficult problems because they’re just that good. So why are they flailing instead of flying? We’ve seen this happen for five different reasons. Plus, organizations we’re supporting for humanitarian relief in Ukraine. 

Listen to the episode:

As we continue into 2022, or more accurately what feels like the third year of 2020, the mere idea of trying to get stuff done at work likely feels overwhelming. We’ve got you. On this episode of the Radical Candor Podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy talk about the Get Sh*t Done Wheel, a step-by-step process that can help make getting things accomplished much easier. The GSD Wheel has 7 steps: Listen, Clarify, Debate, Decide, Persuade, Implement and Learn. When run effectively, the GSD Wheel will enable your team to achieve more collectively than anyone could ever dream of achieving individually.

Listen to the episode:

Radical Candor happens at the intersection of Care Personally and Challenge Directly. On this mini-episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim tells the “Um Story,” which outlines exactly what we mean when we say Care Personally and Challenge Directly. Kim explains why the feedback she received from her boss was so effective and led to even more success.

Listen to the episode:

Building a team is hard. But as we’re seeing now during the Great Resignation, failure to spend time building and investing in a team can have disastrous consequences. In order to be successful, this means developing people on both steep and gradual growth trajectories, or as we like to say at Radical Candor, people in both rockstar mode and superstar mode. On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss how to balance growth and stability by developing people who are in both superstar and rock star modes.

Listen to the episode:

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 Directly. It’s praise that isn’t specific enough to help the person understand what was good or criticism that is sugar-coated and unclear. Or simply silence. Ruinous Empathy may feel nice or safe, but is ultimately unhelpful and even damaging. This is a feedback fail. In this Radical Candor podcast mini-episode, Kim talks about the biggest feedback fail of her career.

Listen to the episode:

If you’re in the market for a new job and you are lucky enough to have multiple offers, or you’re in a position where you can afford to wait for the right opportunity, you don’t have to pay the asshole tax. On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy talk about how to suss out whether your potential new boss is going to help you move toward the direction of your dreams or get in your way. Listen now to the last episode of 2021 to learn how to find a Radically Candid boss.

Listen to the episode: