The group talks about the making of MasterClass, strategies for managing cross-functional teams and how to get everyone home in time for dinner. Kim, Jason and Amy welcome two very special guests, Ezra Rose and Davis Carter. Ezra and Davis were integral in the production of the Radical Candor Sessions by MasterClass. Get the show notes at RadicalCandpr.com/podcast This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at...

Feedback vs. feedforward — both of these words are well-intentioned euphemisms that tend toward either Ruinous Empathy or Manipulative Insincerity. On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss the trend of prioritizing future-focused feedforward over backward-looking feedback. Kim has strong opinions on the words "feedforward" and "feedback." Tune in to find out why one word makes Kim want to put her hands over her ears and the other makes her want to throw up in...

In times of trauma, it’s all about care personally. This is not the moment to challenge directly. Or to make policy pronouncements, especially if that’s not your job. On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss leading with compassion amid the chaos and catastrophe in Israel and Gaza. See the show notes at radicalcandor.com/podcast This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at...

If you're the boss, it all starts with you. For better or worse, a boss establishes the tone and sets the standard for everything that follows. On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy welcome Peloton and TODAY show contributor Ally Love! Ally shares how Radical Candor can help you boss up and increase your confidence at work, the best #RadyCandy she got from her husband, a few of her favorite things and so much more! You're def gonna want to download and favorite...

October is National Bullying Prevention Month! On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, we're dropping a bonus episode from Kim's Just Work podcast featuring a conversation about mobbing, a form of group bullying. Mobbing involves a group of people working together directly or indirectly to remove the targeted individual. Mobbing is rooted in groupthink and group aggression with underlying elements of fear, competition, and envy. Unlike bullying, mobbing is not hierarchical. The target...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Amy and Kim talk about performance improvement plans (PIPs). When used correctly, performance improvement plans can be valuable if there is a commitment to help the employee improve. However, they are often weaponized by frustrated managers who want to get rid of an employee who is struggling. Listen to find out how to tell the difference. Get all the show notes and resources at radicalcandor.com/podcast This show is part of the Spreaker Prime...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Amy and Jason answer a listener's question about how to give feedback about nervous laughter. As you may have noticed, we like to laugh on this podcast when we think something is funny. But, did you know that a lot of laughter doesn’t have anything to do with hilarity? In fact, in the absence of an underlying medical condition, laughing is often a stress response — a way for people to regulate their emotions and avoid being overcome with...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim and Amy welcome Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis professor of leadership and management at the Harvard Business School and author of several books, including The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth and Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well — available now! From managers seeking to inspire their reports to parents wanting to model a healthy failure mindset for...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Amy and Brandi discuss coming out at work and Amy and Brandi share their stories. In response to an unprecedented spike in discriminatory legislation, The Human Rights Campaign recently declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. Visibility matters — we want folks who might be struggling to know that we see you. That you deserve to be here. And to thrive! Read all of the show notes and episode resources at...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Amy and Jason discuss terms that are often used interchangeably but actually mean different things: Praise, Recognition, Appreciation and Gratitude. Kim also takes on the role of Don Draper to act out a scene from Mad Men's beloved episode "The Suitcase." Listen to learn why — in most cases — "that's what the money is for" is not sufficient recognition or appreciation. (A deep dive into Peggy and Don's complicated relationship is a whole...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, we're dropping a bonus episode from Kim's Just Work podcast featuring a conversation about bullying at work, in Hollywood and within our greater society with co-host Wesley Faulkner and guest Eric Deggans. When someone is bullying you, the person’s goal is to harm you. Telling the person you are being harmed is just going to result in more bad behavior. Ignoring bullies doesn’t work, either. The only way to stop bullying is to create negative...

Kim, Amy and Jason discuss sandwiches. These are not the tasty sandwiches beloved by Joey Tribbiani on Friends. While these sandwiches look delicious on the outside, inside they’re stuffed with something you can’t quite identify. But, the sandwich maker hopes the two pieces of artisan bread that hold the mystery meat together will make you accept what’s inside without too many questions. This false promise of emotional novocaine is better known as the feedback sandwich. Here's why you should...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim and Jason reach into the Radical Candor digital mailbag to answer a question about what to do when an employee starts calling in sick on the regular. Kim and Jason roleplay the situation to get to the bottom of why someone might be pulling a disappearing act. Read the show notes >> This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss the difference between feedback and nitpicking. Kim says, "There is one rule of thumb that applies to criticism in general but is especially good advice when you’re really busy and nerves are frayed. It’s best summed up by advice a friend’s godfather gave her at her wedding. 'If it’s brown flush it down. If it’s yellow let it mellow.' She got married on an island with a poor septic system, and this was a sign by all the...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim and Amy welcome C-suite advisor and executive coach Muriel Wilkins to the first Radically Candid Conversation episode of 2023. Kim and Muriel discuss how keeping it real at work can go wrong, what employees want from their leaders today, and the difference between performance and behavior. Muriel Wilkins is a C-suite advisor and executive coach with a nearly 20-year track record of helping senior leaders and teams take their effectiveness to...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, the team delves into a mash-up of Ruinous Empathy and Manipulative Insincerity. Ruinous Empathy—being “nice” but ultimately unhelpful and unkind—is rampant among new managers, including this new manager who wrote to us asking for advice about how to break out of a Ruinous Empathy rut. This new boss also veers into Manipulative Insincerity when they become too tired to care or argue anymore. This person dreamed of being a boss and now realizes...

Kim, Amy and Jason discuss how to make work less like junior high by implementing something Fred Kofman — Kim’s coach at Google — calls clean escalation. Clean escalation dictates managers not allow people to talk about one another to them behind each other’s backs and not engage in office gossip. The opposite of clean escalation is Manipulative Insincerity — talking about people instead of talking to them. When you triangulate, you end up creating politics. Each side becomes suspicious...

Kim, Jason and Amy discuss another upsetting trend in the workplace — the “oops, just kidding!” job offer. The team emphasizes the importance of remembering that the people you are hiring are real human beings with loved ones, bills and responsibilities. You’re not trying them on like a pair of shoes you can discard later if they’re not the right fit. It’s important to get hiring right and Radical Candor has a 5-step strategy to set you up for success. Go to the show notes >> This...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss how the fundamental attribution error makes us more likely to use personality attributes to explain someone else’s behavior rather than considering our own behavior or situational factors that were probably the real cause of the behavior. This is where the "not about personality" part of Radical Candor comes into play. Plus, Jason introduces us to the little evil translator inside his head that makes him hear feedback...

We’ve said before, if you’re the boss, you’re kind of an emotional shock absorber for your team. You’ve got to be able to deal with other people’s emotions. When we communicate, we communicate on an emotional plane and a rational plane at the same time. If you as the boss dismiss all emotional signals as unprofessional you’re not going to communicate very well. Showing compassion is real work, and, like all real work, it is rewarding and also taxing. In general, we undervalue the emotional...

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy dig into the virtual advice mailbag and answer questions from Radical Candor listeners and readers. What happens when people think you're too young to lead? How can you stop paying the a**hole tax? How can you be more present at work when everything is stressful all of the time? Listen to find out! Go to the show notes >>

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason, Amy and Brandi discuss Quiet Hiring, Turnover Contagion and Layoff Survivor Guilt. These byproducts of layoffs can lead to a culture of fear, and when people are working out of fear, they start to avoid taking risks. They learn less, they grow less, they innovate less, and they become less than they could be. The way you treat people when times are tough determines whether you’ll get their best effort, a perfunctory effort, or an...

Jason hosts this episode of the Radical Candor podcast and interviews Amy, Kim and Brandi about layoffs. The team discusses layoffs from a few different perspectives — the most important one is the impact on people who are being laid off. The emotional and financial toll of being laid off is real. Amy says, "Looking back on it, it was a huge transformational time that set my life up in a way that I really wanted. But it felt like absolute sh*t in the process." See the show notes >>

On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss absentee management and quiet firing. While these two things can feel the same to the person experiencing them, the thing that makes them different is the intention behind the behavior. Quiet firing happens when managers allow employees to have toxic experiences at work as a way to get them to quit. On the other hand, a more pervasive problem is well-intentioned bosses who practice absentee management. They’re that...

A classic example of a micromanaging helicopter boss is Bill from the 1999 movie Office Space, the bad boss who spawned thousands of memes. He roams around the cubicle farm monitoring everyone’s activity and stops by to scold workers for minor mistakes like forgetting to put the cover sheet on their TPS reports. On this episode of the Radical Candor podcast, Kim, Jason and Amy discuss how to tell if the "helpful" guidance you're giving your team is actually veering off into micromanaging. If...