text: Radical Candor is NOT Brutal Honesty – Kim Scott – Medium
  In short, we need some Radical Candor on Radical Candor :)
  The whole point of Radical Candor is that it really is possible to Care Personally and Challenge Directly at the same time. We CAN break free of a false dichotomy that leaves too many people feeling they have to choose between being a jerk and being an incompetent. That's a terrible choice, and nobody has to make it. In fact, if you really care personally about somebody, you will tell them if you think they are making a mistake — and when they are doing something great.
  Ruinous Empathy is "nice" but ultimately unhelpful or even damaging. It's seeing somebody with their fly down, but, not wanting to embarrass them, saying nothing, with the result that 15 more people see them with their fly down — more embarrassing for them.
  Caring Personally is at its core common human decency. You don't have to have a deep personal relationship to have this as your point of departure. But if you work closely with somebody — if for example you are somebody's boss — you need to begin to develop a positive human relationship with that person.
  Imagine that you were working on a construction site and you looked up and saw a man cutting an iron beam — but sitting on the wrong end. When he finishes cutting he will plummet eight stories to his death. Challenging Directly is sort of like saying, perhaps yelling even, "Hey, you're on the wrong end of that beam, you'll plunge to your death if you keep cutting!" Of course you'd do that, and right away, right??
  I had the opportunity to present this linguistic challenge — how to describe in two words communication that is fundamentally kind even though it's natural to worry it might be interpreted as "mean" — to Dan Pink. Dan has a genius for communicating big ideas in a couple of words. We were riding together in an elevator, and somewhere between the lobby and the fifth floor Dan Pink exclaimed, "Radical Candor! I would read a book called Radical Candor!"
  We need your help — some Radical Candor on Radical Candor, please!
  How can we convey this message more clearly? We'd love to hear your thoughts — or see your drawings!