Crazy Ass Candor

If you are anything like me, you appreciate blunt people who don’t sugarcoat things and give it to you straight. Of course, not in a rude or jerky way, but the type that lays it out there. In business, personal relationships, and sometimes even a stranger saying something unexpected to you.

It can be refreshing in many ways, and you are never left wondering, “I wonder what they really think,” or “What are the expectations because they seem pretty impartial or vague?”

?In this edition of Unraveled, we will discuss candor, give an example of how GE embraced this philosophy for greater organizational success, walk through how you can do it, and close out with when it’s not appropriate and a few things you can do to amp up your own personal level of candor for winning outcomes.

First, let’s talk, most importantly, about candor in our business life and how it impacts us all.

We’ve all been in meetings where the real elephant in the room is avoided, only to be talked about in hushed tones afterward.

Everything would be simpler and more efficient if this type of thing weren’t the norm in corporate settings, but why doesn’t it happen? And how can you contribute to more open conversations that lend to productivity and successful outcomes for everyone involved?

?What is candor?

Candor is expressing yourself openly and honestly and being really freaking sincere. Maybe I’m jaded, or I’ve been in sales too long, but I can sense bullshit like blood in the water from a mile away.

Jack Malcolm said it well:

“Candor is about responsibility: taking responsibility to speak up when it will improve a situation or avert a problem. In lean communication terms, the first rule of communication is that it must add value.” 1

?Why being blunt wins in life and business

In this Harvard Business Review article, GE discusses its strategic redirection to shift from building a revitalized “human engine” to animate GE’s formidable “business engine.” To do this, a program with two objectives was built.

1. Identify and eliminate unproductive work to energize GE’s employees.

2.?Develop procedures to speed decision cycles, move information through the organization, provide quick and effective feedback, and evaluate and reward managers on qualities such as openness, candor, and self-confidence.

The CEO’s ultimate goal was " to create an enterprise that can tap the benefits of global scale and diversity without the stifling costs of bureaucratic controls and hierarchical authority and without a managerial focus on personal power and self-perpetuation.” 2

To do this, changes were required to systems and procedures and the people themselves. It discussed how the greatest leaders within the organization were open, informal, straight with people, and never bored of telling their stories.

?We can all take a page from this playbook and reimagine how things could look if we trained and encouraged our teams and management to embrace candor so everyone wins.

Our individual roles in whatever position we hold are our own responsibility to speak up when necessary, research the facts, and present them in a well-received style (this can take some practice).

?How to shoot straight-from-the-shoulder

?Here are a few suggestions to help your teams and people around you feel comfortable enough to express ideas with candor:

?1.?Give people permission to say or ask anything. This opens the door for everyone because people don’t just want to belong, they want to contribute.

2.Validate what you hear other people saying (here are some great ways you can do this is your meetings)

3. Do it even when it feels foreign. Leaders resist organizational transparency because “it goes against the grain of group behavior and, in some ways, even against human nature.” 4 I know it’s complex at an organizational level, but I believe transparency (candor) is a winning formula. ?

4.?When you bluntly bring ideas or even criticism to the table, do it thoughtfully and with clear facts.

?When to put your foot in your mouth

Here are some examples of when NOT to share your thoughts candidly:

1.?When your feelings are emotionally charged or reactive

2.?Blasting your opinions in someone’s face when no one asked, or it’s not relevant to them

3.?When you have not earned the right to state your thoughts or opinions, or you have jack shit for credibility

?Doing it right

Ice Cube said it pretty dang good in “Check Yo Self”… before you wreck yourself, am I right?

Here are some additional considerations for you:

?1.?Make sure you have your facts lined up to support your position

2. Know the time and place to show up with candor versus getting the job done

3.?Eliminate emotions to extract lessons that you can share in a raw way

4. Sharing exercises and lessons with the right motive of service versus self-gratification

5.?"Be smart about how you speak up—that’s where style comes in. Unless the situation is imminently critical (such as when your plane is about to run out of fuel), it’s OK to be less direct to make what you say more palatable to the audience. If they don’t take the hint, you can become more direct."1

?Alright, let's bring this home.

?When done right, Candor is a superpower in both work and life. It cuts through the noise, gets to the heart of the matter, and helps everyone move forward. It’s not just about being blunt; it’s about being thoughtful, too.

Let’s continue to Unravel my friends to become better together. And the next time you find yourself in one of those tricky conversations, think about how candor can make things clearer and more productive. Use it wisely, with the right mix of directness and kindness, and you’ll see how it can really make a difference.

?I’ll close out with an awesome Marc & Angel quote:

?“You will always be too much for some people— too unique, too witty, too sensitive, too darn edgy. If you round out your edges to make them happy, you will lose your edge. Apologize for your shortcomings— for being human. But don’t apologize for being who you are.”

?

Resources

1.?https://jackmalcolm.com/2015/08/how-candid-should-you-be/

2.?https://hbr.org/1989/09/speed-simplicity-self-confidence-an-interview-with-jack-welch

3.?https://hbr.org/2019/04/make-your-meetings-a-safe-space-for-honest-conversation#:~:text=You%20can%20increase%20the%20freedom%2C%20candor%2C%20and%20quality,up%20about%20issues%20when%20we%20find%20the%20need.

4. https://hbr.org/2009/06/a-culture-of-candor