Kim Scott

Jan 22, 2024 | kimmalonescott.medium.com | Kim Scott

The paperback of Just Work is going to come out in May of 2024 under the name Radical Respect. There’s a lot that’s new besides the title. It’s been radically edited. Just Work came out in March 2021. Once I saw teams taking the book and putting it into practice in their organizations, I realized several things. A shorter book would be a better book. So I cut 40,000 words–Radical Respect is more than a third shorter. I reordered it so that it started with what leaders could do.

Jan 9, 2024 | kimmalonescott.medium.com | Kim Scott

Unless leaders create real consequences for bullying, the behavior benefits the bully at the expense of others on the team. As a leader, you have three levers at your disposal: Conversational consequences, compensation consequences and career consequences. Let’s focus on the first one: Conversation consequences. Your first response to bullying should be to pull the bully aside and give clear feedback. They might say they were unaware they were crossing a line or simply deny it.

Dec 8, 2023 | kimmalonescott.medium.com | Kim Scott

Bullying creates an atmosphere of fear that undermines a team’s morale and ultimately their success. Unless managers intervene, bullying is likely to result in getting the bully more than their fair share of airtime, credit, headcount, budget, or the like. This results in a toxic culture and misallocation of resources. If bullying gets rewarded, it’s not surprising that some people are willing to do it.

Dec 4, 2023 | kimmalonescott.medium.com | Kim Scott

A shared vocabulary helps people know what to say when they don’t know what to say. I’m referring to unconscious bias. But pointing bias out is awkward; most people don’t know what to say. And they fear retribution for pointing it out, or looking like they are virtue signaling. That’s why it’s helpful to have a norm of disrupting bias publicly, and a go-to phrase that they know to say when they observe bias, whether it’s directed at them or at another person.

Dec 1, 2023 | kimmalonescott.medium.com | Kim Scott

It’s important that the person whose bias has been disrupted is treated respectfully–and equally important that they respond with respect. But these are hard moments. Most people feel deeply ashamed when their biases are pointed out. Our fight or flight instincts are activated. We rarely respond well in such moments. How can leaders help themselves and their employees learn to respond when their biases are pointed out like the respectful colleague they aspire to be?