Managing Managers: How to Navigate the Jump from Manager to Director 7 | 32

Radical Candor: Communication at Work

Radical Candor

Careers, Relationships, Society & Culture, Business

4.7 • 740 Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kim, Jason, and Amy respond to a real-life leadership curveball: what happens when you accept a new role—only to find out mid-interview that it’s actually a director position? Inspired by a question from Reddit, they share practical advice for anyone navigating the leap from managing individuals to managing managers. Learn how to build trust early, create a strong feedback culture, and recognize when to listen and when to take action. Whether you’re new to leadership or just feeling a little unprepared, remember: you don’t have to have all the answers. Leading with Radical Candor means you care personally, challenge directly, and stay curious. Your job isn’t to fix everything—it’s to help your team grow. Get all of the show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠RadicalCandor.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Episode Links:⁠ Transcript Accidentally Landed A Director Role | Reddit What Do Managers of Managers Do? (The Crank Call From Kim) 4 | 16 Five Principles For Successfully Managing Managers Are You a Manager of Managers? Here's How Speak-Truth-To-Power Meetings Can Make Your Workplace More Equitable Leading Large Teams: How to Manage 50+ Direct Reports In an Open Office or Factory Setting Context Matters — Share Your Radical Candor Stories 3 | 2 Connect: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Chapters: (00:00:00) Introduction Kim, Amy, and Jason introduce a Reddit question about becoming a first time company director. (00:01:12) Core Management Principles Why the fundamentals of good leadership apply at every level. (00:03:18) Scaling Leadership Skills Learning to coach managers instead of solving problems directly. (00:05:35) Speak Truth to Power Meetings Creating space for honest feedback across company hierarchies. (00:07:39) Building Trust Why listening first matters—especially in a new role. (00:11:52) Handling Dysfunctional Teams Avoiding harm by understanding the root of the issues. (00:13:19) Navigating Pressure from Above How to explain why slowing down builds a strong foundation. (00:14:46) When to Step in Immediately Stories of handling toxic behavior and disrespect as managers. (00:17:37) Spotting Issues in Remote Teams Picking up subtle cues and helping team members course-correct. (00:19:03) When Moving Too Slowly Backfires Lessons from when hesitation allowed issues to grow. (00:23:52) Leading Through Identity How personal identity shapes experience and response in leadership. (00:27:16) Respectful Leadership Examples of respectful leadership communication and collaboration. (00:30:30) Ask for Help the Right Way Encouragement for new leaders to share their plans and seek feedback. (00:33:50) Radical Candor Tips Tips for helping overwhelmed, hesitant, or siloed leaders. (00:42:00) Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Radical Candor podcast. I'm Kim Scott. I'm Jason Rosoff.
0:10.2	And I'm Amy Sandler. Today we are diving into a real world leadership curveball. Some of you may
0:17.9	recognize. This was a question we came across on Reddit. I'll give an edited
0:22.4	version of it. So this person writes, I recently accepted what I thought was a senior manager
0:28.7	role at a large company I previously worked for, only to find out mid-interview was actually
0:35.2	a director-level position. The hiring process was rushed due to an outgoing
0:39.7	director, and I didn't get to ask many questions. I've got seven years of experience managing
0:45.7	individual contributors, but no experience managing managers. Turns out, I'll be responsible for an
0:53.8	org of about 30 people. I'm not worried about the
0:57.5	technical side, but I am anxious about the people management side. I want to do right by my team
1:03.5	and avoid becoming the kind of unprepared leader, any advice on how to prepare.
1:11.9	So, all kinds of advice. I think that at the core of being a manager, you do the same things,
1:22.7	whether you are a brand new manager or the CEO of a 500,000 person company.
1:31.3	You solicit feedback, you give feedback, you gauge how it lands, you've got to build a great team,
1:39.3	and you've got to get stuff done.
1:41.3	In fact, when I first started doing radical candor talks, even before
1:47.0	the book came out, I had a talk that I had prepared for first-time managers. And then I got invited
1:54.5	to speak to the CEOs of software companies that were about to go public. So relatively senior leaders.
2:03.6	And I was super busy and I didn't have time to adapt the talk for senior leaders. I walked in
2:10.6	to do this talk. I was really nervous. I was like, oh my gosh, these people are going to think I.
2:15.0	And the first question that got asked is, well, we understand
2:19.7	that you prepared this talk for us, these CEOs, but how do we teach this to our junior people?
	...

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