I was recommended Radical Candor as a more contemporary take on Marshall B. Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication, but I think it also works as a more up‑to‑date reference for much of the material covered in What Did You Say? The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback by Charles N. Seashore, Edith Whitfield Seashore, and Gerald M. Weinberg. It even overlaps with, and offers a different angle on the One Minute Manager series by Ken Blanchard.
I learnt a few new things which I think will be really useful. I especially liked Care personally, challenge directly, encouraging feedback from your team early on, the discussion of why boss is the proper term and the three questions you should ask your team to understand them and where they want to be. I’m already using the terms Rock Star and Super Stars as a result of reading Radical Candor.
I didn’t like the strong emphasis on 121s, especially the frequency and the perceived importance. To me this is plain wrong and should be replaced with building strong, high communication relationships. Interestingly, these are also encouraged by the book.
The afterword and extra chapter in the edition I read were sloppy. They rehashed or expanded what was already in the previous chapters and, I suspect, was a way of adding more material without having to revisit the entire book. It would be good to see a future edition completely revised. At the same time, it could be shortened as there is more of it than there needs to be.
I originally bought the paperback, but the text is so small I had to revert to the kindle version, which meant I didn’t get the best versions of the diagrams.
Everyone should read this book, but it could be a lot better.
I learnt a few new things which I think will be really useful. I especially liked Care personally, challenge directly, encouraging feedback from your team early on, the discussion of why boss is the proper term and the three questions you should ask your team to understand them and where they want to be. I’m already using the terms Rock Star and Super Stars as a result of reading Radical Candor.
I didn’t like the strong emphasis on 121s, especially the frequency and the perceived importance. To me this is plain wrong and should be replaced with building strong, high communication relationships. Interestingly, these are also encouraged by the book.
The afterword and extra chapter in the edition I read were sloppy. They rehashed or expanded what was already in the previous chapters and, I suspect, was a way of adding more material without having to revisit the entire book. It would be good to see a future edition completely revised. At the same time, it could be shortened as there is more of it than there needs to be.
I originally bought the paperback, but the text is so small I had to revert to the kindle version, which meant I didn’t get the best versions of the diagrams.
Everyone should read this book, but it could be a lot better.
Kim Scott
ISBN-13: 978-1529038347
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