• Radical Candor

  • Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
  • By: Kim Scott
  • Narrated by: Kim Scott
  • Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (5,713 ratings)

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Radical Candor  By  cover art

Radical Candor

By: Kim Scott
Narrated by: Kim Scott
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Publisher's summary

Find the fully revised and updated edition of Radical Candor on Audible.

Now a New York Times best seller

This program is read by the author.

From the time we learn to speak, we're told that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. When you become a manager, it's your job to say it - and your obligation.

Author Kim Scott was an executive at Google and then at Apple, where she developed a class on how to be a good boss. She has earned growing fame in recent years with her vital new approach to effective management, Radical Candor.

Radical Candor is a simple idea: to be a good boss, you have to Care Personally at the same time that you Challenge Directly. When you challenge without caring its obnoxious aggression; when you care without challenging its ruinous empathy. When you do neither its manipulative insincerity.

This simple framework can help you build better relationships at work, and fulfill your three key responsibilities as a leader: creating a culture of feedback (praise and criticism), building a cohesive team, and achieving results you're all proud of.

Radical Candor offers a guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses. Taken from years of the author's experience, and distilled clearly giving actionable lessons to the listener; it shows managers how to be successful while retaining their humanity, finding meaning in their job, and creating an environment where people both love their work and their colleagues.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2017 Kim Scott (P)2017 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Radical Candor is packed with illuminating truths, insightful advice, and practical suggestions, all illustrated with engaging (and often funny) stories from Kim Scott's own experiences at places like Apple, Google, and various start-ups. Indispensable." (Gretchen Rubin, author of New York Times best seller The Happiness Project)

"Reading Radical Candor will help you build, lead, and inspire teams to do the best work of their lives. Kim Scott's insights...will help you be a better leader and create a more effective organization." (Sheryl Sandberg, author of the New York Times best seller Lean In)

"Kim Scott has a well-earned reputation as a kick-ass boss and a voice that CEOs take seriously. In this remarkable book, she draws on her extensive experience to provide clear and honest guidance on the fundamentals of leading others: how to give (and receive) feedback, how to make smart decisions, how to keep moving forward, and much more. If you manage people - whether it be 1 person or a 1,000 - you need Radical Candor. Now." (Daniel Pink author of New York Times best seller Drive)

What listeners say about Radical Candor

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good book but hard to listen to.

Great content but I found the authors voice very hard to listen to for long. I think it was a bad call to have the author read the book. The quality of the content was overshadowed by the voice.

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65 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Solid advice. Way too long/repetitive. Soul crushing narration.

I wish the author would have received some radical candor from her publisher and editor.

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47 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good content - bad narration

For a book about direct feedback, I am surprised that nobody was radically candid with Kim Scott about her narration abilities. This book has some good lessons but I had to stop listening after a few chapters of this monotone, nasally narration. She should have used a professional narrator!

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45 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very good content, rough narration

The book is largely a collection of very good common sense practices for modern managers. Insightful with many examples. Not every author has the voice, pace, and tone for narration... hers become noticeable after an hour and detract from the content.

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31 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome

I listened to this via audio and then bought the hard copy for reference. Kim does an awesome job of iterating and reiterating key points to managing people, work relationships and yourself to achieve success. Her frank style with lots of examples were clear and easy to comprehend. There are new concepts woven in with more classic ones and ones that are probably in your head as common sense, but in a way that feels very actionable. I will listen to this again.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Excellent First Half

Any additional comments?

The first half of this book offers great recommendations that could apply to any workplace, but the second half is dedicated to specific recommendations for large corporate workplaces. This might cause you to lose engagement if you don't work in that type of environment, but it was still fairly interesting. The quality of the first half of the book alone makes this one worthwhile.

I think this audiobook would have benefited from a professional reader or from more editing, as the reader (the author) stumbled over her own words at times and was a little unclear at times.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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So helpful!

As a newer manager who wants to be "nice," I found the advice in Radical Candor to be especially helpful. Hearing it in Kim Scott's voice was like having her there to coach me through it.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great content. Delivery?

I love everything about the content in this book, and generally prefer the author reading, but it was a bit choppy. In fairness, mine would be decidedly worse in delivery...she’s clearly brilliant, she’s just not a professional voice actor.

Great stories and lessons though. Will likely buy the book and go through it again.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Mostly Amazing

I read this book before bed, and listened during my commute, so I was able to blaze through it very quickly, and loved it. Much of what Kim Scott had to say about Radical Candor felt a lot like common sense to me (fortunately, I'm already doing a lot of what she suggests), which was great, as it reinforced those actions. I also learned a lot about a handful of things I was doing wrong (such as holding on to my criticism or praise until the next 1 on 1) and taught me several new tricks. Overall, a fantastic read.

This is, however, more proof that authors shouldn't read their own work. Kim Scott is a marvelous speaker. I've enjoyed several videos featuring her. And there are shining moments within this audiobook where she is talking to us, not reading. However, the majority of the book it sounds very much like she's reading to us. Very halting and unnatural. Not unpalatable by any means, but this great book would have been much better served with a professional voice actor.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A must read for all managers, leaders and entrepreneurs

Addresses the problems of how to generate a culture of being candid. This commonsense approach along with the actionable "how to" is sorely needed in today's extremely over dramatic culture of political correctness. A field manual on how to navigate the rules and the relationships of your direct reports. A how-to guide in developing your entire workforce.

Beyond that it was an interesting story that compares how radical candor can work in two extremely different organizational cultures. As in the do it now and then "ask for forgiveness" culture of Google and the precise and design "Measure twice cut once " orientated culture of Apple.

A must read.

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11 people found this helpful