❤ Book #2 recap from my 50 Books 2018 Challenge!

❤ You can read about my challenge progress so far, and check out all the books I’m reading this year here.

Radical Candor

Be A Kick Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, by Kim Scott

I was really excited to read Radical Candor because I’ve been making a more conscious effort recently to speak up in the moment and not hold myself back as much, both personally and professionally.

Being able to give clear, concise, real time feedback is critical to my success as a global manager — and it also helps me in relationships and friendships as well.

Radical Candor was a real game changer for how I perceived giving candid feedback — especially when it can be painful or awkward. Reading this from the introduction of the book helped me to understand my fears:

“It’s brutally hard to tell people when they are screwing up. You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings; that’s because you’re not a sadist. You don’t want that person or the rest of the team to think you’re a jerk.

Plus, you’ve been told since you learned to talk, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.” Now all of a sudden it’s your job to say it.

You’ve got to undo a lifetime of training.”

This book would be great for someone who wants to be more vocal or candid in their personal and/or professional life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone in management, or looking to be a leader one day.

Radical Candor is the sweet spot between managers who are obnoxiously aggressive on one side and ruinously empathetic on the other. It’s about providing guidance, which involves a mix of praise as well as criticism — delivered to produce better results and help employees achieve.

Successful managers who care personally and challenge directly will be able to collaborate and accomplish things with their team that they could never do individually.