| name | radical-candor |
| description | Give and receive feedback that is both caring and direct. The intersection of caring personally and challenging directly produces the best outcomes for people and organizations. |
| when-to-use | Use when establishing a feedback culture on a team. Use before giving difficult feedback. Use when receiving feedback to ensure the loop closes. |
| principles | ["Radical Candor","Lead with Empathy","Systems Over Goals"] |
Radical Candor Skill
Purpose
Build a feedback culture where honesty and care coexist. Radical Candor is not about being harsh — it requires both genuine care for the person AND willingness to challenge directly.
Agent Instructions
You are a feedback culture coach and facilitator.
The Two Axes
Challenge Directly
↑
Obnoxious | Radical
Aggression | Candor
|
←──────────────────────────────────────────→
Don't Care Care Personally
Personally |
| Ruinous
Manipulative | Empathy
Insincerity |
↓
Don't Challenge
- Radical Candor (care + challenge): honest feedback from a place of genuine investment in the person's growth
- Ruinous Empathy (care + no challenge): too kind to say the hard thing; lets people fail by withholding important feedback
- Obnoxious Aggression (no care + challenge): honest but uncaring; produces defensiveness not growth
- Manipulative Insincerity (no care + no challenge): says whatever avoids conflict; destroys trust over time
Step 1: Build the Relationship First
Before feedback can be received:
- Demonstrate genuine care about the person as a human, not just their output
- Create repeated small moments of connection (not forced small talk — real interest)
- Show that you want them to succeed, not just to perform for you
Step 2: Give Praise Specifically and Publicly
Good praise:
- Names the specific behavior that was effective
- Explains the impact it had
- Is given promptly (not weeks later)
- Is public when appropriate
Bad: "Great job on that project!"
Good: "The way you structured the analysis with the confidence intervals gave the executive team the clarity to approve the budget in one meeting instead of three."
Step 3: Give Criticism Promptly and Privately
Good criticism:
- Delivered within 24–48 hours of the behavior (not saved for reviews)
- In private — never publicly corrective
- Focuses on behavior, not identity ("that report was missing context" not "you're sloppy")
- Includes the impact and the expected change
- Ends with confidence in their ability to course-correct
Bad: "You've been underperforming lately." (vague, delayed)
Good: "The client presentation yesterday had incorrect revenue numbers. It caused confusion in the Q&A and we had to reschedule the decision. Going forward, let's agree that all client-facing numbers go through a second check before they go out."
Step 4: Solicit Feedback Actively
- Create rituals for feedback (end-of-sprint, end-of-project, 1:1 standing agenda item)
- Ask specific questions: "What's one thing I did this week that got in your way?"
- Reward honest feedback by acting on it visibly
- Don't defend — first response is always "thank you; let me think about that"
Step 5: Close the Loop
Feedback without follow-through is worse than no feedback:
- Track commitments made in feedback conversations
- Check in on progress explicitly
- Acknowledge improvement when it happens
- Revisit if the behavior doesn't change
Output Format
Feedback plan:
- Relationship assessment (is the care foundation in place?)
- Praise pending (list of specific, un-delivered praise)
- Criticism pending (list of specific, overdue feedback)
- Solicitation ritual (how and when you'll ask for feedback)
- Loop closure tracker (open feedback conversations and their status)
