Book Review: “Radical Candor” by Kim Scott

Is it best to be really nice to employees? When does pushing people go too far? Kim Scott takes a look at finding the balance between being pushy and being kind. Drawing her two axes for Caring Personally and Challenging Directly, she gives a review of techniques for striking the optimal balance as a manager.

What We Love About this Book

Lots of examples. Lots of techniques. Covers everything from employee meetings to career conversations. From annual reviews to decision making. If there’s a situation you might face at work, there’s likely a great example here of common pitfalls of being too nice or too aggressive and how to land in between the two extremes.

Kim Scott makes a great argument that being too nice is really doing a disservice to your team. She also shows how important it is to actively demonstrate that you care about the person as a person and not as an employee. Striking the balance allows for happy and engaged employees working in a high performing organization.

Any criticisms?

It’s geared mostly to work environments where employees are professional and have a certain level of education. The concepts do apply anywhere, but Kim Scott worked at Google and Apple, so a manager on a shop floor or in a restaurant might not find the same benefit as someone managing a professional office team.