Musing on Radical Candour

Radical candour, like so many other leadership and management resources, tools, assessments, frameworks, and step programs, is only as good as what we do with it.

Apr 22, 2025

… and then I said, I don’t like working with men your age because you are all smug sexist patronizing idiotic know-it-alls. #radicalcandor

The above is paraphrased from a LinkedIN post that I saw a few months ago. I had made note of it because of the discomfort that I felt on reading it and because I had become curious about how people were understanding and applying radical candour in their work lives.

Hitting a Snag

Radical candour as championed by Kim Scott in her talks, the website, and the book can be summed up in her words of “caring personally while challenging directly”. It offers a way for moving from what she calls “ruinous empathy”, “manipulative insincerity”, and “obnoxious aggression” to delivering timely caring feedback that needs hearing for a healthy and productive work environment. I can get behind that and did so with much of what she has to say in the book.

But here’s where I hit a snag. When it comes to radical candour, I am left wondering about our individual and shared understanding of and capacity for caring and for knowing what needs hearing.

As a leader in this organization, I hold myself accountable to our values. I told her that she was being cowardly and homophobic by not showing up for our Pride Day event. (from an enthusiastically applauded and cheered executive speaking at a recent staff conference)

And remember… saying “in the spirit of radical candor” while acting like a jerk still means you’re acting like a jerk. (Radical Candor website)

Musing

The capacity for caring and for knowing comes from having intention for and attention to a wise and ethical leadership path. Without this capacity, radical candour becomes a lazy hashtag signalling poor leadership and unhealthy work environments.

I invite us to consider if and how our keenness for any number of the trendy and shiny leadership and management tools and practices might be distracting us from our need to collectively and individually grapple with, and imagine, our courageous leadership paths.

Thank you for musing along with me.

Babs

PS: This was a tough little piece to write, but it wouldn’t leave me be. I had to work hard on getting over the tone of the book set by “kick ass”, one of my not-favourite attention getters. Even then, I found that for me deeper dives into psychological safety and emotional intelligence resonate more than the radical candour framework.

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