Radical Candor (Kim Scott)

Leading Self

Dec 4

Radical Candor: Leading with Compassion and Courage

Principle: Care personally and challenge directly.

Behaviors: Give feedback that is both kind and clear. Show that you care about the person, even when you are delivering tough news. Create a culture of open and honest feedback.

Kim Scott’s Radical Candor offers a leadership approach that cuts through the fear, discomfort, and avoidance that often surround feedback. At its core is a simple but powerful principle: care personally and challenge directly. When leaders show genuine care while also speaking the truth with clarity, relationships grow stronger, performance improves, and trust becomes unshakable.

Many leaders fall into one of two traps: avoiding difficult conversations to spare feelings, or being so blunt that they harm relationships. Radical Candor bridges this gap by combining empathy with honesty. It invites leaders to be human and kind — while also being courageous and direct.

The first behavior is to give feedback that is both kind and clear. Kindness doesn’t mean sugarcoating or avoiding the hard truth. It means delivering feedback in a way that respects the person and supports their growth. Clarity means being specific, direct, and actionable so the person knows exactly what needs to change. Together, kindness and clarity create feedback that lands with impact instead of defensiveness.

Another essential behavior is to show that you care about the person, even when delivering tough news. People are far more receptive to correction when they trust your intentions. Demonstrating care might mean taking time to listen, understanding their perspective, or acknowledging their effort. When people know you value them as individuals, direct feedback feels supportive rather than threatening.

Finally, Radical Candor encourages leaders to create a culture of open and honest feedback. Feedback shouldn’t be a rare event — it should flow in all directions, every day. Leaders model this by asking for feedback themselves, responding with humility, and encouraging others to speak up. Over time, this builds a culture where conversations are transparent, problems are addressed early, and people feel empowered to learn and grow.

Radical Candor is not about being harsh or overly critical. It’s about being real — showing up as a leader who cares deeply about people and equally deeply about results. When teams experience this balance, trust skyrockets, performance strengthens, and relationships thrive. In the end, caring personally and challenging directly is not just a better way to lead — it’s a better way to work with people.