Radical Candor = “Care Personally” + “Challenge Directly.”
Caring personally is all about doing the things that you already know how to do in your personal life – and bringing it to work. Like acknowledging that the people you work with have lives and aspirations that extend outside of work. Like making time for real conversations that help you get to know one another at a human level. Like having a deep understanding of what makes the people on your team want to get out of bed in the morning.
Second, challenging directly is all about challenging others and telling people when their work isn’t cutting it. Like delivering hard feedback when it’s necessary. Like making the hard calls about who does what on your team. These are the things that you know you should be doing, but most people have trouble doing because it’s incredibly uncomfortable – for you and the other person.
Rare is the person who can put both of those two things together in the same package. But if you are a leader, that’s exactly what you are called to do. What’s waiting for you on the other side is not a team that is angry and full of resentment, but a team that is grateful for the chance to finally talk through the real issues at stake.
