Radical Candor: From theory to practice with author Kim Scott

Kim Scott is the author of Radical Candor, currently the #1 most recommended book on this podcast. The book has sold over 1 million copies and has been translated into 23 languages. Before writing, Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies. She was also a member of the faculty at Apple University and before that led AdSense, YouTube, and DoubleClick teams at Google. This spring she’ll be launching Radical Respect, which she considers to be a prequel to Radical Candor. In today’s conversation, we go deep on Kim’s popular framework, including:
• What separates radical candor and obnoxious aggression
• Tactical advice on delivering constructive feedback
• How well-meaning empathy can become ruinous
• Strategies for effectively soliciting and responding to feedback
• The importance of having regular career conversations
• The false dichotomy of a good leader versus a kind person
• A sneak peek into Radical Respect

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Where to find Kim Scott:

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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Kim’s background
(03:13) A brief overview of Radical Candor
(06:46) How people fail with ruinous empathy, manipulative insincerity, and obnoxious aggression
(08:37) The impact of radical candor on Kim’s life
(14:16) How to communicate feedback effectively
(20:34) A story illustrating the problem with ruinous empathy and manipulative insincerity
(27:50) How to get over the need to be liked
(31:31) How to have career conversations with your direct reports
(29:40) Reflections on how Kim handled an underperforming employee
(33:31) Best practices for soliciting feedback as a leader
(35:53) How to respond to feedback
(39:22) How often to ask for feedback
(41:48) Whether or not to accept “no feedback” as an answer
(50:48) Investing time in feedback
(54:04) How to ask for feedback as an employee
(57:42) Why obnoxious aggression is not the best way to deliver feedback
(1:01:23) A notable example of problematic management 
(1:03:43) Why context matters when diagnosing obnoxious aggression 
(1:07:39) Empathy is a good thing, but empathy can paralyze
(1:10:47) Reflections on the limitations of radical candor in a society riddled with biases 
(1:14:41) Kim’s new book, Radical Respect
(1:15:51) Tactical advice to get better at radical candor
(1:16:46) Lightning round

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

[beyondcleon]

One great addition for anyone working on soliciting feedback is to avoid putting the person on the spot. This is because you are going into the meeting prepared to ask for this feedback, but they may not be prepared to provide it. Instead, you could use those hypothetical five minutesto solely ask for the feedback and then use the following weeks meeting to receive it.

[rawscientistofficial]

Fantastic episode! Thank you for this - added the book to my reading list.

[NazimRagimov]

what's an awesome person! thanks for bringing her to podcast, Lenny

[zshn]

Much of it radical candor working really depends on the reports being open to feedback, open to feedback from the person giving it, respecting the person who is giving the feedback, acknowledging & accepting the feedback and having the motivation to work on improving based on the feedback.

Job hoppers, layoffs and poor performing managers have created an environment where feedback is neither solicited, nor appreciated. People have realized that companies don't care about them and managers are far too detached from reality so the feedback is not meaningful.

[zshn]

Also I believe Radical Candor suits western civilized culture more than the eastern culture.

If you apply radical candor to people from eastern culture who have a very scripted, controlled upbringing; they're mostly never open to feedback and it more often than not, confuses them because when they get feedback, it psychologically freezes them and then they expect you to handhold them and follow like a duckling. When you don't, they blame you for abandoning them or not giving clear "instructions". That's when you realize they've been perceiving your feedback not as "guidance" but as "instructions".

[rilwanj]

50:50 What about if you get feedback that is outright false, and slanderous, that can put you disciplinary hearing. How do you handle that?

[abigailbrown]

If I want to grow the most, I have reward those who will correct me so that they will do it more

[rilwanj]

28:05 I’m always able to give hard feedback, by using the marketing technique of loss aversion. If some repetitively says something offensive in a meeting. I’ll at a point, ask them if we can have a conversation one to one, then I’ll say something like there are some team members that felt offended by some of the things you said, I won’t want you to start making enemies. Then I leave them to infer the likely consequences if they continue down the current path.