first a disclaimer: i am a people pleaser. to make matters worse, i am also a perfectionist. not a winning combo for giving people feedback on their work.
in order to improve, i sought out ‘radical candor’ by kim scott. subtitle: how to get what you want by saying what you mean’.
neither the people pleaser, nor the perfectionist could resist.
was it helpful?
YES, because scott puts giving honest feedback in its larger context and thereby manages to reframe the whole concept as pleasing people (and yourself) in the long term. or at least that’s my interpretation.
none of what she says was really new information, but her argument was overall persuasive and made me change how i think about giving feedback. and i always love it when a book’s content does that.
not to mention the plethora of tools and techniques she describes, some of which i can actually see myself using.
and i liked that she also touches on themes of gender or hierarchy and how these are to be taken into account. always a plus, because these elements change things.
but…?
also NO, because a lot of what she talked about seemed to me as very specific to a competitive silicon valley kind of context and / or personality type. i wonder whether or how her recommendations would work in my or any other environment.
also, the student-scientist in me can’t help but notice that there is only anecdotal evidence to back her up. and none of the name-dropping of silicon valley giants such as google or apple changes that. the fact that there is no real data to back up this framework and it therefore remains just that : a theoretical concept.
conclusion
all in all, ‘radical candor’ is a solid way to get started thinking about the topic and implementing first steps. i do, however, see it as only a stepping stone in a process that most likely involves more steps (or books) than just this one.
