‘Founder Mode’ Explains the Rise of Trump in Silicon Valley
by Kim Scott
(The New York Times)
Silicon Valley’s current fascination with a trendy management meme illustrates a broader and more troubling turn in certain powerful pockets of its culture — one that has seized our politics and could even unduly influence our election (again). I’m talking about founder mode. A recently coined management style being celebrated by some venture capitalists, it embraces the notion that a company’s founder must make decisions unilaterally. This neo-authoritarianism is nothing short of a rejection of the historical values that made Silicon Valley what it is today.
The Art of Radical Candor: A Game-Changing Approach to Feedback and Criticism
At INBOUND23, bestselling authors, Kim Scott and Dr. Tina Opie explored the role of radical candor in the workplace and how leaders who employ it can provide a safe and supportive environment for honest conversations, empowering their teams to grow and thrive.
Want to bring out everyone’s best performance? Learn to lead with fairness
by Kim Scott, Ron Carucci and Tina Opie
(Fast Company)
After the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions in June, 13 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to 100 CEOs asserting that the decision could also apply to private entities, like employers. In fact, lawsuits have already been filed against companies like Amazon, Starbucks, and Comcast for their efforts to support historically marginalized groups. Such efforts are an overreach that would make it impossible for business leaders to do what common sense business practices direct them to do: measure what matters.
TEDxPortland: How to Lead With Radical Candor
New York Times bestselling author, Kim Scott, has cracked the code on giving valuable feedback in a way that builds genuine relationships, drives results, and creates positive workplaces. Her riveting talk explores the idea of adopting radical candor and how leaders create an environment of trust and innovation that fosters personal growth and professional development. Kim draws from personal experiences and examples as a Silicon Valley executive, highlighting the transformative power of this leadership approach.
Ally Love shares tips for ‘bossing up’ and boosting confidence
TODAY contributor Ally Love stops by Studio 1A and shares tips for boosting your confidence throughout the day — including a music playlist to pump you up, inspirational quotes, reading Radical Candor, getting ‘hype moment’ texts from friends, and more.
The biggest mistake most bosses make when trying to be honest with workers, according to a former Google executive
by Ian Thomas (CNBC)
If you’ve watched HBO’s “Silicon Valley” or NBC’s “The Office,” you’ve seen several examples of obnoxious aggression and manipulative insecurity exhibited by leaders. It almost goes without saying that actual managers shouldn’t look to mimic Michael Scott, or the command-and-control culture dramatized on television. Instead, leaders should strive for what former Apple and Google executive Kim Scott calls the radical candor approach, showing that you care personally while challenging directly.
The Art of Delivering Feedback in Today’s Hybrid Workplace
by Wendy Helfenbaum (Reworked)
For many employees, being called in to see the boss provokes feelings of panic, and leaders may also find it intimidating to tell a direct report their work needs improvement. But forward-thinking organizations are learning that when meaningful feedback is delivered, people get the input they require to grow and thrive, said Kim Scott.
How HubSpot Sustains A Customer-Centric Culture Across 7k Hybrid Employees
by Kevin Kruse (Forbes)
The one skill that Marrinan values the most at HubSpot: Radical Candor. “Transparency and empathy” and “a high-performing culture” often feel at odds. I would ask all of our HubSpotters to lean into feedback and make sure that we’re practicing giving and receiving feedback. It’s tough, but making sure that feedback is direct, kind, and clear is the way to go. Marrinan’s book recommendation for HR professionals: Kim Scott’s Radical Candor, since we are focused on high performance and the behavior of giving candid and empathetic feedback.
How Much Should You Pay Yourself? 3 Tips for Entrepreneurs
by Sarah Lynch (Inc.)
A good test: “Look yourself in the mirror and see if you feel good about [the gap]. And if you don’t, then either pay yourself less or redistribute some of the equity,” Kim Scott says. Additionally, founders can create a system of checks and balances to further ensure salary fairness, Scott says. Whether that’s consulting investors or advisers, working with someone else to develop a compensation plan can be beneficial. “Don’t just decide yourself on what you pay yourself,” Scott says, “because you wind up making a sub-optimal decision.”
Employees Need Praise And Criticism: Kim Scott Shares How To Get Better At Both
by Christopher Littlefield (Forbes)
To establish a deep sense of belonging and trust, employees need both praise and feedback from their leaders. Many leaders tend to lean heavily on one or the other or avoid both altogether. If leaders want to engage and keep their best people, they must get better at both. To understand how, I interviewed the leading expert on the interplay of criticism and praise, Kim Scott.
How COVID-19 Made Kim Scott Rethink One Key Aspect of Radical Candor
by Kim Scott (Fast Company)
When I first published Radical Candor in 2017, I was convinced that the most effective way to communicate with people at work was in person. Until the COVID-19 crisis, I discouraged giving guidance and feedback remotely if there was an opportunity to do it in person, because more than 90% of communication is nonverbal. That’s not to say words don’t matter, but body language experts claim that things like the tone of your voice, your facial expressions, and how you position your body reveal more about how you’re feeling than the words themselves.
Top 24 Fearless Pioneers 2023
Celebrating business and thought leaders around the world nominated for their contribution and commitment to promoting psychological safety and eliminating fear in the workplace.
Kim Scott is a renowned author, leadership coach, and distinguished former executive at both Google and Apple. Her influential book Radical Candor has played a crucial role in advancing psychological safety in the workplace. She has helped organizations cultivate a culture of radical candor, promoting open and constructive conversations that contribute to a psychologically safe environment. By embracing Kim’s principles, teams can establish stronger connections, drive collaboration, and empower individuals to reach their full potential.
Follow These 4 Steps to Create Psychological Safety in Your Teams
by Kim Scott and Amy Edmondson (Fast Company)
Psychological safety is necessary in any workplace. Without an environment where candor is welcome, it’s difficult for a team to perform at their best. Psychological safety isn’t about being comfortable all the time. It’s about embracing the discomfort. When leaders are confident enough to solicit and reward feedback, this encourages employees to say what they really think and to be willing to hear the opinions of others in return.
‘What is the best way for a man to manage a team of women?’ Start by actually listening
by Komal Minhas (Fortune)
Women report being more burned out and exhausted than their male counterparts. Women indicate that working from home provides some flexibility but also leads to less sleep and more demands. The impact on women of color has been even more significant. So how can you best support your team, and possibly even thrive together? “The first thing to do is to get to know people and to listen and be willing to hear,” says Kim Scott. “Then understand what the dynamics are and figure out a way to address them directly.”
Mark Zuckerberg’s new return-to-office mandate is a clear problem, says Harvard expert: It’ll cause a ‘huge amount of distrust’
by Ashton Jackson (CNBC)
Empathy, or a lack thereof, has become a problem for CEOs across the country as workplaces shift away from Covid-era protocols, experts say. Employees and bosses spoke often about their lives outside the office while trying to navigate the pandemic’s uncertain peak, but the trend is now reversing, leadership coach Muriel Wilkins told the “Radical Candor” podcast earlier this month. ″[Now] leaders just want to drive to results,” said Wilkins. “And they’re sort of saying, ‘Well, it’s either drive the results or be empathetic. I can’t do both.’”
Are You Being Direct or Just a Jerk? 4 Ways to Tell the Difference
by Emma Brudner (Inc.)
I’m a huge fan of the book Radical Candor by Kim Scott, which is about giving direct feedback. Clear, direct, and actionable feedback is crucial to helping people grow and develop into better employees and teammates—and makes your business stronger in the long run. However, in the years since the book came out, I’ve noticed an uptick in the amount of folks using “radical candor” to say whatever is on their minds—no matter how unvarnished the opinion. I’m all about being direct with colleagues and direct reports—but not when “candor” is used as an excuse to act like a jerk.
Defining Radical Candor – and How to Do It
by Curt Nickisch (HBR IdeaCast)
Kim Scott, who previously worked at Google and has consulted for Twitter and Dropbox, says leaders should learn to give honest feedback in the moment, while also developing a relationship that shows how the hard feedback is coming from a place of caring. She explains the steps managers can take to challenge more directly while also communicating empathy.
When Your Boss Gives You Bad Feedback, Badly
by Kim Scott, Liz Fosslien, and Mollie West Duffy (HBR)
It’s difficult to manage your feelings when getting feedback that feels too harsh, overly nice, or somehow dishonest. We all struggle with feedback, so extend a little grace to yourself for having strong emotions, and to the other person for initiating a difficult conversation. The authors present the three most common ways people deliver feedback in a way that causes harm and elicits strong emotions, as well as five key steps to take when you get poorly delivered feedback.
A Workplace Attuned to the Humanity of Workers
by Kim Scott (The Wall Street Journal)
On a video conference, we can no longer pretend there are sharp boundaries between home and work. Kids, pets, impossibly messy or neat rooms, and other clues emerge in the margins of our screens. Managers are seeing their employees with a fullness they’ve never experienced before. Employees are seeing their bosses’ living rooms. This new visibility will change the way we manage and are managed.
Keep Your Talent: How Managers of Dance Businesses Can Combat “The Great Resignation”
by Basia Hellwig (Dance Magazine)
More than 19 million workers (and counting) have quit their jobs since April 2021, according to McKinsey & Company. There’s no one reason for all the quitting, but many people seem to be having a moment of “COVID clarity.” Compelled to protect their physical safety, people are also paying more attention to their mental health—and saying no to exhausting workplaces, particularly ones that come with low pay. “It’s so easy to feel trapped in a job—that there aren’t other choices,” says Kim Scott.
Work From the Office, Get Laid off at Home
by Sarah Kessler (The New York Times)
Kim Scott, a former Google executive and the author of Radical Candor, suggested that awkwardness or embarrassment [of being laid off in person] could be avoided by planning ahead — for instance, having an extra conference room for people to collect themselves and an option to collect belongings after hours. [If you’re laying someone off remotely] the medium matters. A video call with your manager beats the impersonal email. “It’s very hard to care personally over email,” Scott said.
How leaders can avoid the dangers of ‘yes’ people
by Hannah Pitstick (Financial Management)
Leaders who surround themselves with an ocean of nodding acquiescence are liable to run into icebergs. In order to discover issues while they’re still small and encourage team members at all levels to propose creative solutions and challenge ingrained ideas, leaders should navigate their teams towards a culture of candour and away from blind agreement. “The danger of surrounding yourself with ‘yes’ people is that often those people are telling you what they think you want to hear versus what they actually think,” said Kim Scott.
New York Times Bestselling Author Kim Scott On The Art Of Feedback
by Zack Friedman (Forbes)
Kim Scott is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Radical Candor, the go-to source for how to be a better boss and build better relationships at work.I interviewed the former Google and Apple executive on her bestselling book, how to create a culture of feedback, the best way to give praise and criticism, the biggest mistakes people make when giving feedback, her best carer advice, and even how being a better manager may help you find a happier relationship.
A Boss’s Guide to Leading Through Uncertain Times
by Ray A. Smith (The Wall Street Journal)
After a round of layoffs at a software startup she ran a couple decades ago, Kim Scott recalls telling staff there wouldn’t be anymore—only to have to lay off some staff later. After that, the former Google executive who wrote a book about frank communications at work, began sharing status reports on the company’s financial status at the weekly all-hands meeting.
Top CEO coach and former Google exec says this is the No. 1 trait great bosses share
by Marguerite Ward (CNBC)
Kim Scott knows what makes a good boss. After she helped lead Google’s AdSense team, Scott became a sought-after CEO coach in Silicon Valley, advising C-suite clients at Dropbox, Twitter and other top companies. Every leader has his or her own style, but Scott says the best ones have one characteristic in common: “radical candor.” Made up of two key components, it’s a trait the coach says every manager should cultivate.
Millennial v Boomer: young generation wants radical feedback
by Brynne Herbert (The Financial Times)
When I worked in investment banking, my colleagues and I dreaded our annual appraisal. We each sat down with a human resources manager armed with a paper file filled with the details of our work, anecdotes from colleagues and ratings of our behaviour that would decide our bonus. It felt arbitrary, formulaic and false. It neither won my loyalty, nor got the best out of me. The millennial generation (and much of the modern workforce) is not willing to wait 12 months to hear how they are doing. They are certainly not willing to speak to HR about it, rather than to the people with whom they work day to day. They prize authenticity, transparency and genuine relationships.
How Leaders Can Get the Feedback They Need to Grow
by Kim Scott, Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy (HBR)
When things are uncertain, it can feel comforting to avoid difficult feedback. But creating stability for your team — and success for your organization — depends on your ability to learn what needs to change. Burying your head in the sand is never the safe thing to do. A culture of ruinous empathy or false harmony is not the path to success. Instead, invite criticism from your team with these six tips for how to successfully solicit Radical Candor from your employees.
Radical Candor — The Surprising Secret to Being a Good Boss
Management (First Round Review)
Kim Scott has built her career around a simple goal: Creating bullshit-free zones where people love their work and working together. Along the way, she managed a lot of teams in various states of euphoria and panic. And while she did a lot right, she’d be the first to admit everything she did wrong. The good news is that Scott has spent years distilling her experiences into some simple ideas you can use to help the people who work for you love their jobs and do great work.
Small Talk Is an Overrated Way to Build Relationships with Your Employees
by Kim Scott (HBR)
The relationships that you form with each of your direct reports are central to your ability to fulfill your three core responsibilities as a manager: Create a culture of feedback, build a cohesive team, and achieve results collaboratively. But these relationships do not follow the rules of other relationships in our lives; they require a careful balancing act. You need to care personally, without getting creepily personal or trying to be a “popular leader.” You need to challenge people directly and tell them when their work isn’t good enough, without being a jerk or creating a vicious cycle of discouragement and failure. That’s a hard thing to do.
Why employees appreciate radical candor if it’s done right. Here’s how to get the information across without offending them.
by Dawn Kawamoto (Built In)
Former Google AdSense director Kim Scott vividly remembers a turning point in her career when her boss gave her a dose of Radical Candor. It began with a meeting room to discuss AdSense. Standing in one corner clad in bright blue spandex pants was Google co-founder Sergey Brin exercising on an elliptical machine and in the other corner was then CEO Eric Schmidt with his nose buried in his laptop.
Why Is Your Boss Asking About Your Feelings? Inside the Empathy Management Trend
by Ray A. Smith (The Wall Street Journal)
Empathy can easily be misinterpreted, says Kim Scott, a CEO coach and former Google executive whose book “Radical Candor” advocates for direct communications at work. Managers sometimes mistakenly assume they should ask a lot of questions about staffers’ lives outside work in a way that can feel intrusive. “That is not caring personally, it’s being oblivious to how the other person feels,” she says. Too much focus on empathy can also cause some leaders to hold off on tough feedback. It’s counterproductive “when empathy begins to paralyze us to ‘I’m so aware of how you might feel that I’m afraid to talk to you.’”
The most ethical way for leaders to communicate about the prospect of layoffs
by Sarah Todd (Quartz)
In a time of great uncertainty, when many people are already feeling powerless over their own futures, it’s especially important to be as transparent as possible. If layoffs could happen, Kim Scott says, bosses should say so. “It’s so tempting not to share the information you have with people right now because the information is scary,” Scott says. But we’re living through a historic pandemic: Everyone is already freaked out. And research shows that most people find uncertainty extremely stressful.
Getting what you want by saying what you mean: the art of radical candour
by Josh Dye (The Sydney Morning Herald)
If you were performing poorly at work, how would you want someone to tell you? That question is central to a new management philosophy called “radical candour” that’s created a buzz around the world with substantial companies adopting it as a preferred approach. The radical candour framework is fairly simple and marries two important — but often competing — workplace behaviours: challenging directly while caring deeply.
