Summer reading ideas from Smiths Group's CFO, Clare Scherrer

Unlocking our full potential

This summer I’m reading Kim Scott’s Radical Candor, which has prompted me to reflect on how we can continue to unlock our full potential here at Smiths Group – particularly as our annual performance review cycle is now upon us and all of our people leaders are preparing to give feedback and set goals for the year ahead.

Radical Candor resonates with me on many levels, and I particularly like how it maps to our values and leadership behaviours at Smiths Group. Our values are the things that are important to us as an organisation. We live them every day, in each action and decision that we take. Our Smiths leadership behaviours then take our values to the next level. They describe the behaviours we need to exhibit to be a dynamic, inclusive, and results oriented organisation. You can see a visual on our leadership behaviours below:

For me, Radical Candor correlates most closely to our leadership behaviour 'Developing Self and Others.' For Smiths, this means how we visibly commit to the personal development of our colleagues and contribute to everyone reaching full potential.

The author challenges all of us as leaders to provide radically candid feedback to those who work for and with us. Her fundamental point is that if we truly care about our colleagues, then we have an obligation to do so. And she highlights that we are most impactful when we 'engage the heart' (to show we care personally) and also 'engage the mind' (by challenging directly)'.  

One particular quote from the book that stands out for me as a reminder is: “Make sure that you are seeing each person on your team with fresh eyes every day. People evolve, and so your relationships must evolve with them. Care personally; don’t put people in boxes and leave them there.”

I encourage all current and aspiring people managers to read this book. It’s engaging, refreshingly honest - and most importantly - it has some great practical tips to take on board to become a better people manager.

I’d love to hear what books you’re planning on reading over the summer!

Clare Scherrer is CFO of Smiths Group