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A great way to practice the principles of
Radical Candor is by starting a virtual book
club. We’ve put together this list of Radical
Candor book club questions to get you started
with the discussions for each chapter.
You can also visit our book page to buy copies
of Radical Candor in bulk at a reduced rate.
After your club members have read the book,
use the critical thinking questions below to
help guide the discussion.
A Complete Guide
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1. Describe an experience when you didn’t give direct feedback, but you
wish you did.
2. Who are the best leaders you’ve worked for in your career?
What made them so exceptional? What can you learn?
3. Tell a story about the worst boss you ever had. What did they do that
made them so bad? How can you avoid those mistakes?
1. What does the Radical Candor book say are the key
responsibilities of a boss?
2. Many people mistakenly call Radical Candor the same as brutal
honesty. What is the difference between Radical Candor and
brutal honesty?
3. What are some ways that you show you Care Personally at work?
4. Do you think Challenging Directly is a strength or a weakness
for you?
1. Describe an experience when you received feedback that you
appreciated and that was delivered in a helpful and caring way.
2. Describe an experience when you received feedback in a way
that you didn’t learn from because you resented the way it was
delivered to you.
3. Have you ever been so nice that it ended up working against you?
4. Have you ever felt there was no way to not be mean if you needed
to get your desired outcome?
Introduction
Chapter 1: Build Radically Candid Relationships
Chapter 2: Get, Give, and Encourage Guidance
Part 1:
A New Management Philosophy
Radical Candor in 6 Minutes
A Story of Obnoxious Aggression
Radical Candor Is Not Brutal
Honesty
A HIP Approach to Feedback
Leading with Kindness & Clarity
Relationships, Not Power, Drive
You Forward
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1. Have you ever underestimated an employee’s contributions
because they weren’t gunning for a promotion? What happened?
Did you regret it?
2. Have you ever clipped the wings of an employee on a steep growth
trajectory? What happened? Did you regret it?
3. Are you more at risk of being an absentee manager or a
micromanager? What kinds of situations push you towards one of
these modes?
4. Are you currently on a gradual or steep growth trajectory? Were
you ever on the opposite one?
1. Have you ever tried to tell a team of people what to do? What were
the results?
2. Which step(s) of the Get Stuff Done (GSD) Wheel are easiest or
most comfortable for you? What steps do you tend to skip? Where
do you get stuck?
3. What are some of the practices your team or organization has
today that fall into the different steps of the GSD wheel?
4. Are you a quiet listener or a loud listener?
5. Do you want to foster a culture of debate on a team? If so, how will
you do it? If not, why not?
6. How do you help your team make decisions? Are you worried you
grab too many decisions?
Chapter 3: Understand What Motivates Each
Person on Your Team
Chapter 4: Drive Results Collaboratively
Superstar Mode vs. Rock Star Mode
Debaters & Deciders
Are You a Micromanager,
Absentee Manager, or Thought
Partner?
5 Ways to Successfully
Develop Your Team
The Problem with Passion
Are You a Quiet or Loud
Listener?
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1. What activities do you do to stay centered?
2. Describe an experience when you weren’t able to bring your best
self to work. What happened?
3. How do you build trust with your direct reports/staff?
What strategies or activities have been most effective, and how
can you tell?
1. Have you solicited feedback from your direct reports/staff? If so,
how have you done it, and has it been successful?
2. Do you have a go-to question for soliciting feedback?
What is it?
3. What are some of the ways that you have rewarded criticism?
4. Which of the Radical Candor book’s tips for giving guidance did you
nd most helpful?
5. What’s something you could do tomorrow with someone on your
team to offer Radical Candor?
1. Do you or can you begin facilitating “Career Conversations” with
your direct reports, as a way of caring personally and helping them
map out their career trajectories?
2. Do you know the balance of rock stars and superstars on your
team? How do you think about growth for different people?
3. Did any of the Radical Candor book’s suggestions for hiring and
ring resonate as applicable to your team/company?
Chapter 5: Relationships
Chapter 6: Guidance
Chapter 7: Team
Part 2:
Tools and Techniques
A Conversation with Kim Scott
Soliciting Feedback
A New Mindset for Firing
Radical Candor with Direct
Reports
11 Ways to Get feedback From
Others
How to Have Radically Candid
Career Conversations
Digging into Toxic Stew
The Go-to Question
Navigating Emotional
Reactions at Work
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1. How do you approach 1:1 meetings? How’s that different than the
recommendations laid out in the Radical Candor book? Will you
change your 1:1’s?
2. How do you help nurture new ideas? Which ideas from the book
will you adopt?
3. Do you hold staff meetings? How do they compare to the approach
in the book? Any recommendations that you’ll incorporate?
4. Do you think the Big Debate or Big Decision meetings described in
the book would help your team?
5. What do you think about the number of meetings suggested in
this chapter?
6. How do you prevent meeting-creep from taking over the time your
team should be spending executing?
1. What are the elements of the formal performance review process
at your organization?
2. Are these working — why or why not?
3. Are you having regular development conversations with everyone
on your team?
Chapter 8: Results
Bonus Chapter: A Radically Candid
Performance Review
Creating Effective 1:1 Meetings
Impromptu Feedback — How
Frequent Should It Be?
Get to the CORE of Giving
Radically Candid Feedback
Why You Can’t Skimp on
Development Conversations
Meet Like a Boss — The 411
on 1:1s
The Measurement Problem:
Development Versus
Management
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We hope these questions for your Radical Candor book club are helpful in
creating a meaningful discussion with your team! Of course, understanding
the ideas is just the rst step, and changing your habits and day-to-day
actions is hard.
Let us know how it goes! Receive discounts on bulk orders of Radical Candor
at BookPal; 800 CEO Read; & Bulk Books.
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