Book Review: “Radical Candor: Be A Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity” By Kim Scott (2019, 336 Pages)

The best book on management I have read in a long time.

Kim Scott is the co-founder of Radical Candor LLC, an executive education company. She has been a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and several other tech companies. Previously, she led AdSense, YouTube, and Doubleclick online sales and operations at Google. After Google, Kim joined Apple to develop and teach a leadership seminar. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA from Princeton University.

In “Radical Candor,” she lays out a vision of management based on the idea that, to be a good boss, you have to care personally at the same time that you challenge directly.

She explains that, when you challenge without caring, you are demonstrating obnoxious aggression. When you care without challenging, you are demonstrating ruinous empathy. When you do neither, you are demonstrating manipulative insincerity.

Kim Scott’s vision is in sync with my management philosophy to be demanding and caring at the same time. But, beyond that, the book’s value lies in the fact that it covers its subject from both a conceptual and practical standpoint.

RATING: A.