Kim Scott

All too often, founders start a company and hire an incredible team dedicated to solving an important problem and leaving the world better off. Then they get a taste of success — and the bankers and lawyers swoop in. Demands to “maximize shareholder value” set in. The company succumbs to the gravitational pull of mediocrity, or worse. Compromises are made, rationalizations abound, and after a while people start to wonder: how did this happen?

On this episode of the Radical Candor Podcast, Kim talks with Lean Startup author Eric Ries about his new book Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad… and How Great Companies Stay Great — and what it actually takes to build a company that stays true to its purpose.

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Graduation speeches love “follow your passion.” Career coaches love it. Parents love it. But is that really the best way to decide what to do for work — especially in a moment of AI anxiety, when the ground under entire careers is shifting?

On this episode of the Radical Candor Podcast, Kim talks with bestselling author and researcher Tom Rath about his new book What's the Point? — and why a better starting question might be: what's a problem I can help solve?

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Office culture is a fascinating topic. It can be the special sauce that brings a team together to achieve excellence. But what happens when the culture becomes a toxic mess? What happens when a charismatic CEO becomes obsessed with cataloging people's weaknesses and broadcasting them across the company? What happens when that same CEO mandates “internal reporting” on coworkers, in techniques drawn directly from the Stasi playbook? Why would people join — and remain at — such an organization?

On this episode of the Radical Candor Podcast, Kim talks with New York Times business reporter and bestselling author Rob Copeland about his deeply researched book The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend. It's a cautionary tale about what happens when a charismatic, immensely wealthy leader decides his mission is to dictate how people should live.

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Wealth inequality and the concentration of political power can feel like the unique problems of our era. But there are lessons to be learned from the past — sometimes from the most unlikely places.

On this episode of the Radical Candor Podcast, Kim talks with Yale Law School professor John Witt about his book The Radical Fund — the story of the Garland Fund, established by Charles Garland in the early 1920s, and how that one philanthropic experiment helped lay the foundation for some of the 20th century's most consequential civil rights, labor, and free speech wins.

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Wealth concentration in the United States is top of mind these days. While it's tempting to see this as a recent trend, it's instructive to look at what was happening in American politics decades ago — and see how many of these forces were already set in motion in the 1970s.

On this episode of the Radical Candor Podcast, Kim talks with Prof. David Gibbs about his book Revolt of the Rich: How the Politics of the 1970s Widened America's Class Divide — and the Nixon and Carter administration decisions that still reverberate today.

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We all love the convenience of our digital devices and connected services. But what about the ever-expanding pile of digital breadcrumbs we leave behind every day? Those crumbs get swept up by private companies to target us with ads, and by government agencies who might use them for legitimate police work — or, in some cases, political repression. So a lot of people are asking: should I be doing more to protect my personal privacy, and how?

On this episode of the Radical Candor Podcast, Kim talks with tech evangelist and prolific author Guy Kawasaki about the journey that led him to start using Signal — and then to co-author Everybody Has Something to Hide, a hands-on guide for using it well.

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When tech is at its best, it’s a group of people working together to solve hard problems in a way that makes the world a better place. That goal is what motivated so many folks in Silicon Valley to come here. How then did we cede the microphone to a small number of people who espouse an authoritarian, rich-get-richer algorithm? How can we take action to advocate for our vision of a better future?

On this episode of the Radical Candor Podcast, Kim talks with Lisa Conn — founder of Gatheround and former Meta employee — and Anne Wootton — co-founder of Pop Up Archive and current senior engineering manager at Apple — about the ICEout.tech movement, why they signed the pledge, and how tech employees can organize for change without compromising their day jobs.

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Are you the cool boss that everyone loves, but no one respects? Join Kim and Jason as they address a pressing question from a production supervisor struggling with their team's lack of accountability. Learn the importance of sharing personal stories, soliciting feedback, and giving timely criticism, all while remembering that accountability is an act of kindness. If you're struggling with setting boundaries and holding people accountable, we've got your back.


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