What Do Managers (of Small Teams) Do Anyways? 4 | 15
What do bosses do anyways? On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, we're starting a new series of episodes to answer that question! Is it a...
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:
Kim Scott & Russ Laraway
Russ explains how the world has conspired to confuse the average manager. Despite near-limitless resources — books, blogs, podcasts — that purport to teach us how to be great managers, the reality is that managers globally aren’t really any better than they were 30 years ago. (The evidence is this: as more evidence emerges that the manager is most responsible for employee engagement, global engagement is still at just 15% and 33% in the U.S.)
Managers are struggling due to a lack of regular formal check-ins on how they are doing as a manager. Their bosses have almost no context on how they are leading their people and therefore can struggle to coach them. Kim and Russ discuss:
In When They Win, You Win, Russ Laraway, the chief people officer at Goodwater Capital who also developed Career Conversations, provides a simple, coherent, and complete leadership standard that teaches managers how to lead in a way that measurably and predictably delivers more engaged employees and better business results and show organizational planners how to make their managers great!
The book identifies The Big 3, or three key elements: clear direction-setting, frequent coaching and active engagement with employees on their long-term career goals. Russ also dedicates around 100 pages of the book to Career Conversations! Pre-order now >> + Order your 'No Assclowns' merch >>

We're supporting these organizations dedicated to helping people in Ukraine.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Improvising Radical Candor, a partnership between Radical Candor and Second City Works, introduces The Feedback Loop (think Groundhog Day meets The Office), a 5-episode workplace comedy series starring David Alan Grier that brings to life Radical Candor’s simple framework for navigating candid conversations.
You’ll get an hour of hilarious content about a team whose feedback fails are costing them business; improv-inspired exercises to teach everyone the skills they need to work better together, and after-episode action plans you can put into practice immediately.
We’re offering Radical Candor podcast listeners 10% off the self-paced e-course. Follow this link and enter the promo code FEEDBACK at checkout.
The Radical Candor Podcast theme music was composed by Cliff Goldmacher. Order his book: The Reason For The Rhymes: Mastering the Seven Essential Skills of Innovation by Learning to Write Songs.
What do bosses do anyways? On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, we're starting a new series of episodes to answer that question! Is it a...
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...
You’ve likely heard about the Great Resignation — perhaps you’re even one of the millions of people who’ve bid their jobs farewell over the past few...