Fun

Jerry Maguire – Help Me Help You

We recently launched the Candor Gauge, an app that helps you improve your impromptu feedback. So to celebrate, we wanted to share a clip from Jerry Maguire that embodies the spirit of the Gauge. "Help me, help you." This is exactly what the Gauge is built to do. It allows people to help their managers, peers, team members... whoever, give better feedback. Better feedback helps people do better work and have more fun working together. So by asking someone to gauge…

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Hit Me With Your Best Shot

We've all been taught since we were kids, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." But now in the workplace, we need to hear when things aren't going well. We need people to tell us how we can do better, to go against this training they've gotten since they were babies. Luckily, thanks to Pat Benatar, we've got the perfect chorus to inspire someone to move out of Ruinous Empathy and bump up their Direct Challenges. ...…

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Meat Loaf’s Radical Candor

Need your weekly dose of Radical Candor? Meat Loaf will sing it to you. These lyrics show that he definitely gives a damn, and he's also got to be willing to piss his girlfriend off to admit that he doesn't love her. But what do you think, does "two out of three ain't bad" come across like a feedback sandwich? ... I tried to show you just how much I care ... And all I can do is keep on telling you I want…

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SNL Clip: When Your Feedback Isn’t Heard

This clip of "One More Mission" from Saturday Night Live was shared with us on Facebook, and we thought it would be perfect for this Friday's media post. There's feedback flying all around in the clip, but let's just focus on the section starting around 0:54, when Johnny O'Connor (Phil Hartman) enters and Harry Meyer (John Lovitz) tells him he's through. Remember, Radical Candor is not measured at the speaker's mouth, but at the listener's ear. So although Harry may believe…

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Glengarry Glen Ross Shows Us Obnoxious Aggression

Radical Candor is hard. Sometimes it's much easier to let go of your direct challenge or not take the time to show you Care Personally. At moments like this, maybe you need a little kick in the pants to keep you motivated. :) Try watching an extreme example of what happens when you're not Radically Candid, like this classic example of Obnoxious Aggression. This is the well-known "Always Be Closing" scene from Glengarry Glen Ross. Blake (Alec Baldwin) delivers a…

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Huey Lewis on Soliciting Radical Candor

A number of people have written in asking for advice on reacting to and soliciting feedback from their boss. The short answer is, try to make it easy for them to say what they're really thinking. I am in the process of writing a much longer response to the question of how to ask for feedback in our advice column, but on the way to work this morning I realized Huey Lewis probably said it better and faster than I…

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Rocky Balboa Cares Personally and Challenges Directly

Coach Russ has all of us here at Candor, Inc. convinced that Rocky delivers the epitome of a Radically Candid speech. In this speech to his son, Rocky shows that he cares deeply and issues very clear, direct challenges. What he has to say isn't easy, but he knows it needs to be said. He motivates change. We encourage you to use this speech as inspiration to give the feedback that you know is needed. If you don't say it, you're not giving…

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The Beatles Probably Didn’t "Work it Out"

We've been listening to "We can work it out" by the Beatles recently. The Beatles really seemed to want to work it out, but with their lack of Radical Candor, we're pretty sure the relationship was doomed. Check out how their approach stacks up - it offers good insights into work relationships, too: Have you seen an example of Radical Candor, Obnoxious Aggression, Ruinous Empathy or Manipulative Insincerity in a movie, TV show, or song? Tell us about it in the comments, or tweet…

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Radical Candor in "The Sound of Music"

We're starting a Media Fridays series where we'll show videos, songs, TV show clips, etc. that are fun examples of Radical Candor, Obnoxious Aggression, Ruinous Empathy, or Manipulative Insincerity. First up, The Sound of Music. Maria criticizes her boss, Captain von Trapp, with Direct Challenges (pretty strong ones!), but she also shows over and over that she Cares Personally. Maria doesn't hesitate to "Just say it!" As often happens, Captain von Trapp doesn't react well to Maria's criticism at first. Radical Candor is hard. It…

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