🏁 Axios Finish Line: Truth bombs

Plus: Our tips for candor | Thursday, June 30, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By 3M   Axios Finish Line By Mike Allen, Erica Pandey and Jim VandeHei ·Jun 30, 2022 Jun 30, 2022 Welcome back. Tonight's host — Axios CEO Jim VandeHei — is at jim@axios.com. Smart Brevity™ count: 404 words ... 1.5 mins.     1 big thing: The beautiful clarity of true candor Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   The hardest thing for most aspiring leaders and managers to master is giving clear, direct and sometimes very hard feedback to others, Jim writes. Why it matters: Candor, done right, is a time-saving, culture-strengthening, clarifying gift. It gives the recipient total, unvarnished visibility instead of false praise or ambiguity. If you do it deftly, they will thank you. The backstory: My obsession with candor was born at the Washington Post. It's a great paper, but it always troubled me in the mid-2000s that those in charge would move struggling reporters to less prominent beats, without shooting straight with them about their shortcomings. To me, it is more humane to be respectfully honest about people's weaknesses so they have a legit shot to change. At Axios, candor is one of our core values: You do not duck the tough stuff. We push ourselves and leaders to have the difficult chats with total precision about what needs fixing and on what timetable. What candor is: Being clear and direct Being honest in words and tone Confronting difficult topics Saying what you mean and meaning what you say Saying it to someone's face respectfully but bluntly What candor is not: License to be a jackass Passive-aggressive Indirect Averting tough conversations Hiding in fake niceties Speaking emotionally and defensively We think a lot about candor. Here are a few tricks that help us: Write down precisely what you want to say before saying it. Scrub out any hints of passive-aggressiveness or camouflage. Say what you need to say clinically, without emotion. And don't lard it up with unnecessary words or caveats. Be direct. Be clear. Thank the person for taking your words in the spirit of candor and give them license and time to respond in kind. The big picture: Think of candor as a disinfectant for all the game-playing, difficult-decision-avoiding nonsense most of us hate at work — and in life. Share this story.     A message from 3M Climate change gets personal     Environmental concerns have intensified over the past year. 69% of Americans surveyed in the 3M 2022 State of Science Index are concerned that they or a loved one may be displaced from where they live due to extreme weather. Find out how science can help minimize the effects of climate change.     💬 Tip to go "A difficult conversation tends to go best when you think about it as a just a normal conversation," Holly Weeks, an executive coach and author of "Failure to Communicate," tells the Harvard Business Review. Treat the recipient like an adult, be calm and respectful — and hard conversations don't have to be so hard.   Thanks for reading. Invite friends to sign up. Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: