Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

Unfailing discretion and courtesy may get you far at a dinner party but will sink you as a manager, argues Scott, a cofounder of management consulting firm Candor, Inc. and a CEO coach in Silicon Valley. After six years at Google working for her business school buddy Sheryl Sandberg, she learned that relationships are the major building blocks of a career, and that only honesty—painfully candid honesty, if necessary—can lay solid foundations for good manager/employee relationships. The book aims to help bosses manage their emotions while helping failing employees (a difficult task for even the most experienced manager) and walks them through building “radically candid” relationships with direct reports. Radical candor lies in a place where caring about employees meets the willingness to challenge them directly. Scott walks readers through understanding the motivation of subordinates, making tough decisions, establishing rapport, and helping employees avoid “boredom and burnout.” She also runs through a list of strategies for building solid working relationships. Informational and clear, this is necessary reading for anyone who’s having trouble coming to terms with an underperforming workforce. [em](Mar.) [/em]