Radical Candor - Summary and Action Guide

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Table of Contents

Introduction 3
Part 1: A New Management Philosophy 4
0.5 second summary 4
409 word summary 5
Skeleton summary 7
Take Action 11
Part 2: Tools & Techniques 12
0.5 second summary 12
390 word summary 13
Skeleton Summary 16
Take Action 20
Conclusion 21


Introduction
We made this for people who
(A) Are busy.
(B) Want to be better leaders.

Maybe that’s you. Or you’re thinking about buying Kim Scott’s bestseller and this is part of your
research. Or you’re just curious.

In any case, thank you for trusting us. We know that there’s a ton of information out there, and
it’s a full-time job to try to sort through it. I hope that this can help you use your time better.

Kim Scott’s bestseller is 272 pages. This summary & action guide is 21. And those pages
include Pinterest-ready quotes (go ahead and steal them so you look super motivated :D) and
Sprynkl’s unique skeleton summaries (a few words on a lot of lines).

This summary & action guide is special because it’s our first. But it’s not going to be our last.

If you want to be the first to hear about more free resources we produce, be sure to subscribe
to our newsletter. And, of course, feel free to share this resource with other leaders who might
enjoy it.

Thank you again for your time. Let me know if there are any books you’d like to see summarized
next ;).

All the best,

Nick Santalucia
nick@sprynkl.io

Part 1

A New Management
Philosophy
She’s the CEO guru of Silicon Valley. She’s on TED. And she wrote the bestselling book.

In Radical Candor, Kim Scott makes a strong case for her direct yet compassionate approach to
management that can help you get results without “losing your humanity.” Part 1 lays out the
philosophy in clear terms with a lot examples.

0.5 second summary
Radical Candor =leadership philosophy by Kim Scott.
To be radically candid, team leaders must
● care personally about their team members
● challenge them directly.
○ On their work, not who they are


409 word summary
Radical Candor is caring enough for your team that you’re honest with them. To be radically
candid then, you must care and be honest.

Caring means taking the time to find out what each team member wants from his or her role. It
also means staying up-to-date with their lives to the point of knowing when this changes. For
example, an employee may need increased financial security, and thus willing to take on more
challenges to secure it. Or an employee may need to spend more time at home, and so are
looking to slow down at work.

You must appreciate each of these people differently, including your expectations of them, and
the rewards you offer them. For example, someone who is happy with their current position will
not appreciate a promotion.

Being honest means providing the praise and criticism your employees need to do their best
work. Both praise and criticism must be specific and focused on the why of the situation. For
example, it’s not enough to say that someone is “smart.” Better to give an example of something
that impressed you (“She explained that concept so well…”) and why it mattered (“that our
clients felt comfortable using it.”)

In the first part of Radical Candor, Scott devotes a lot of space to delivering criticism well.


[Quick Bite] For your next meeting

Some advice from Radical Candor: contextual and specific advice is more meaningful. Answer why
something was good or bad, and what the outcome was.

For one, building strong relationships makes this easier. This way, you know how to best
approach someone. In some cases, people love being challenged are fine with mixing in some
profanity. Others not at all. It’s your job to know where you stand with your team members.

Finally, Scott outlines an ideal process for “driving results collaboratively.”

It is

Listen → Clarify → Debate → Decide → Persuade →
Execute → Learn → And back to Listen

Essentially, ensure that you know what your team is thinking and why (and also what you are
thinking). Then refine those ideas until they are succinct and easily understood. After that you
still must open up the topic for debate. (It’s important that your team be open to debate! Be
clear about the process’ goals and explain why it’s so important for everyone to point out flaws
they see.) When the debate has ended, based on facts -- not recommendations -- make a
decision. Once you have a decision, persuade your entire team of its merits using emotion,
credibility, and logic (or, as Aristotle would say, pathos, ethos, and logos). Then do it as
efficiently as possible, and make sure to learn from the experience through self and group
reflection.

[Quick Bite] For an interview

Skeleton summary

Bring your whole self to work


B/c how can you pretend otherwise -- you are you no matter where you are!

2 big parts of Radical Candor (Rad Can) =
1. Care personally
Must care in order to know team members
● What do they want from work?
● What changes in life will change what they want from work?
You have to get comfy being hated :| )
2. Challenge directly
Anything less hurts everyone!
● You challenge b/c you care
It’s OK to hurt people -- it happens -- but then help fix problem

All this changes depending on context!
Eg, OK to use bad words on some teams, not OK on others

Dishing it out and taking it -- not necessarily in that order
Famous story about Sheryl Sandberg -- “Um”
● Sandberg cared, so she helped fix it.

Rad Can does not equal criticizing someone’s personality

PRAISE 🙌
● Make specific, contextual
○ Why is x trait good?

CRITICISM 😱
● Better for everyone to make it, and make it direct
● Do not be nasty
○ Though gets results (OK), bad for morale, etc (BAD)
● To make Rad Can happen

○ ASK your team for it = fostering environment
If nasty to you = OK
If nasty to each other, fix that!
Always acknowledge and celebrate when people share feedback
● ⛔ NO “feedback sandwich”
● The one and only, Steve Jobs:
○ CRINGELY: What does it mean when you tell someone their work is shit?
○ JOBS: It usually means their work is shit. Sometimes it means, “I think
your work is shit. And I—I’m wrong… The most important thing I think you
can do for somebody who’s really good and who’s really being counted on
is to point out to them when they’re not—when their work isn’t good
enough. And to do it very clearly and to articulate why … and to get them
back on track.
● Great example of Rad Can feedback = co-worker’s fly down
○ Like them too much to embarrass them?
= BAD for them!
○ Instead, whisper, let them know
○ Relationships are key to making criticism work (and making it easier!)

Caring about = understanding your team
GREAT story about architect Christopher Wren, while building St Paul’s Cathedral
● He asks 3 workers what they’re doing
1: “working”
2: “building a wall”
3: “making a temple of the Almighty”
● Lesson: everybody gets something different out of work

Is member happy + doing well where they are?
● Then keep them there!

Is member trying to move on up?
● Then help!

Cannot put own needs before your team members’

Cannot just focus on the hot 🔥 shots

Need to recognize the slow n’ steady folks
● But not with promotion
= make special expert roles for them?

If ambitious, challenge them, but don’t try to keep them

Know when to say “bye” 👋
● Already told them what needed to happen?
● Still nothing?
● …

[Tons of great situations+examples in the book here]

Tell people what to do = wrong approach!
Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer: Give the quiet ones a voice
● = All are heard
● == You stay silent
○ There are risks! Because people don’t know

Must be clear on what you want to do
● Give people time + space to develop clarity
○ Eg, hack weeks, brainstorming sessions (with critique!)
● Must “tumble” ideas via debate
○ Good idea = switch roles in debate
Now argue against your idea
● Get facts to decide, not recommendations

● To persuade team use ethos, pathos, and logos
● Do it, and then learn from it
It’s OK to change your mind, if the facts have changed.

Take Action
As a leader, you need to care about your team. This will make it easier to manage them (as you’ll
know what they’re looking for in work) and have radically candid conversations with them.

When you praise and criticize, make it specific and explain why your feedback is important.

Remember, while it may be awkward to be very honest about something (such as body odor), by
telling a team member about it, you are showing that you care.

That’s what makes you a great boss. :)

Be the first to get more free resources from Sprynkl.io. Sign up for our newsletter.


Part 2
Tools & Techniques
A team of motivated, purpose-driven employees. Who trust each other to give direct, honest
feedback (that works). Sounds great, doesn’t it?

That’s exactly what Kim Scott helps you achieve in the second part of her bestselling book,
Radical Candor.

0.5 second summary
● Make your team criticize you so everyone criticizes each other (in a caring way)
● Get your team members closer to their dreams in their current positions


[Quick Bite] For a dinner party

To be most effective at optimizing the flow of the chemicals oxytocin and serotonin—which boost mood
and promote bonding—hold a hug for at least six seconds, Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

390 word summary
Scott offers a ton of tools and “what-if” scenarios to help you create a radically candid (and
therefore happy and productive) team.


I won’t go through them one-by-one, but will give you the bigger picture of how Scott approaches
building a better team.

The first area for you to focus on is your relationships with your team. But in order to do that,
you first need to get your own head on straight. Do that by making time for yourself and
prioritizing your favorite calming activity (reading, exercising, spending time with your family,
etc.)

Once you’re “centered,” you’ll be more in control of your emotions and better able to deal with
the emotions of others.

Overall, Scott recommends simultaneously acknowledging how other people feel (as opposed
to telling them how to feel) while avoiding becoming beholden to their emotions. Scott tells a
great story of how she handled a woman who used to come into her office every week to cry:
Scott stopped keeping tissues in her office.

Having these strong relationships makes the next area, guidance, much easier.

Another great story that she tells, which sums up the benefits of radical candor, is how she
handled a team member whose body odor was interfering with her team’s performance. Scott
did not make the matter personal -- she kept the focus on her team. The woman understood,
improved, and later thanked Scott for it.


[Quick Bite] For your next interview

The next area to understand is your team. In the video above I talk about what is, in my opinion,
the most interesting and actionable advice of the book: the 3 conversations you need to have
with your team members to get them more motivated. This series of conversations lead to the
most dramatic turnaround of team morale in Google history. (I also outline them in the skeleton
summary below.)

Finally, it’s time to get results. Scott’s basic approach to work involves starting small (1:1
meetings), and slowly working your way up to a staff meeting, then a big debate, then a
decision. After that, you still need to persuade your team that it’s the best course of action, and
then let them work -- that is, no meetings. Then, ensure that everyone has learned from the
process and begin again. (This mirrors the “get stuff done without telling people what to do”
chart from part 1.)


Skeleton Summary

People (including you) have lots of feelings
Most important relationship = with yourself!
● Do not try to separate real/work self -- you are you everywhere
○ Especially during high stress times
Find what “centers” you and make it a priority during high stress

Don’t be dictator
● Always show why something’s best, don’t just say
● Google is great ex of this
○ Even co-founder doesn’t have authority over teams!

Socializing at work
● Necessary
● But tricky
○ Booze = bad idea
○ Mandatory fun = fun??
● Slowly build trust
○ This has close relationship to caring personally

Don’t assume values
● Writing on paper gets awkward
○ better to just live them through work

Fun fact: Best hugging time = 6 seconds


Emotions
● First must know own
○ If bad, own them, let others know you’re having tough day
● Manage others’
○ Don’t put own expectations/requests on them
“Don’t feel X”


Make feedback easier with “culture of guidance”
First step = you get guidance from your team
● Tough b/c preconceptions of “boss”
● Make it OK to criticize you in public
○ (But not OK to do to others)
○ Show that you want it!
Funny story about Sheryl Sandberg, after Facebook’s IPO.
Demanded (nicely) personal feedback from a banker. Wouldn’t let
him go until she got it.
● So ask more specific questions, eg, where you need help
○ Ask and then wait 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6…
● Then reward when you get it

Cool idea = “Management ‘Fix-it’ Week”
● What processes annoy people?

Guidance can be less awkward with Radical Candor
Humble, helpful, fast
● Focus on what was going on, what the person did, what happened because of it
● Accept that people see things differently
○ Eg:


● Don’t spend an hour on it -- 2-3 minutes = OK!
● In person always best
○ Pls no texts

To get better at giving guidance, track how you’re doing
● Too nice (not saying what matters)? Too mean (not caring personally)?

Radical candor with boss?
● Don’t get 🔥 !
● First, ask for feedback
● Talk about Radical Candor
○ Ask permission to do so

Gender differences introduce bias
● Females often seen as nastier when doing the same as men
○ Imagine switch genders?

Peer feedback can be powerful
● Can also help boss track what’s going on
○ Again, make it a culture

Understanding = Better team. Radical Candor = Understanding
3 conversations to motivation
1. “What’s your life story?”
● See how they live values
○ Then, tell them what you see
2. “What’s your dream?”
● Get 4-5
○ So you see real one in fourth or fifth
● “What skills do you need to achieve that?”
● Do these line up with values?

○ If not -- ask about it
3. “18 month plan”
● How can we help you get those skills?
Boom!
● A team motivated by their dreams.

Take Action
The repeating theme I saw in Part 2 of Radical Candor was starting small. Which makes a lot of
sense.

Instead of unrolling a massive new and “perfect” feedback system, just own up to an area where
you’ve been failing, and ask for guidance from your team. Eventually, if you keep at it and reward
the right behavior, that’s going to naturally develop into a culture of feedback.

Similarly, asking people for big and lofty values, isn’t as effective as just asking what they’ve
already done. And talking about something real -- not ideals -- tells you a lot more anyway. ;)


Conclusion
Caring + Honesty = The best results from your team.

And it’s best to start caring right away. So ask your team members where they come from and
what they want to do. What they have to do outside of work, too.

With this context, you’ll know what kind of feedback to provide (are they trying to advance or
happy to get really good at what they do?) and you’ll know how to deliver it (can you joke around
or should you be more serious?)

Remember: giving feedback well, no matter how awkward it is, shows you care and moves
your team forward.

To do this best, start small. Start with the tangible. Start with what you can do.

Don’t expect your team to receive feedback well until you have. So get them to critique your
performance. Of course, make sure to set boundaries (eg, team members get feedback in
private, focus on the outcome of an action not the person who did it), but ensure that your team
is always improving.



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