It’s no secret. Managing people well is one of the more challenging jobs of a business leader.  Human beings are inherently unpredictable, relationships require proper care and feeding – which sometimes means having difficult, what many would say, and very unpleasant conversations.

Great management takes time – a scarce resource for most of us. So, I’m here to give you a “noodge” – because we all know that it doesn’t matter how good your plans are – if you don’t have the right people in the right seats engaged and working hard on the right things, you might as well throw your plan out!

Kim Scott knows this truth first hand.  First at her own company, a software startup and then as a long-time director at Google and faculty member at Apple University, she’s managed a lot of teams and did more things wrong sometimes (especially at the beginning) than right.

She got mentoring from some wonderful leaders, like Sheryl Sandberg, current COO of Facebook, however, that she readily points to as instrumental to her success.  And she recognized that creating “the world’s greatest business model” didn’t necessarily guarantee a great work environment.

Her “simple” management secret? Focus on giving guidance, not feedback. (Something which most of us inherently don’t want to hear)

Provide radical candor – challenge directly while caring personally.

Here is her amazing talk at a First Round CEO Summit

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