86 This manager built his career on two principles. 1. Praise: People need to receive specific and positive feedback from their manager when they do things right in order to con- sistently repeat those positive behaviors. 2. Criticism: A manager has a “moral obliga- tion” to be upfront and honest with their employees when providing them with cor- rective coaching. Moral obligation? I wanted to hear more. It was then that this manager recommended that I watch Kim Scott’s presentation on Rad- ical Candor – the Surprising Secret to being a Good Boss. It’s a must-see. Kim Scott, co-founder of Candor, Inc. was a long-time director at Google and a faculty member at Apple University. Scott studied the best ways to maximize employee perfor- mance and determined that the single most important ingredient was “guidance” which is comprised of both praise and criticism. She uses the term “guidance” rather than “feed- back” because, in her opinion, guidance has a more positive connotation for those receiving it. I can’t say I disagree. To provide strong guidance, Scott explained that a manager needs to wield the most effec- tive tool possible, Radical Candor. You should watch her 20-minute presentation, but here’s an easy way to understand the concept of Radical Candor. The following below is divided into four quadrants by a vertical axis, Caring Personally and a horizontal access, Challeng- ing Directly. Radical Candor happens when a manager deeply cares about the person they are coaching and also provides them with candid information that may not always feel good. A manager who does not live in the quadrant of Radical Candor falls into one of the other three quadrants that you can see lead to failure. Scott shared a story about managing an em- ployee who was extremely likeable but not meeting her expectations. In an effort to be kind, she avoided the tough talk that he prob- ably really needed, hoping he would improve. This went on for nearly a year, negatively im- pacting the entire team, before she realized she was on the cusp of losing several of her top performers. It finally hit her. While she was trying to be kind to Bob, she had inadver- tently been unfair to those on her team who were performing. She described this dark moment in her career like this: