Why Didn't You Tell Me?
Inspired by Kim Scott episode
Superhuman's CEO: speed is a feature. Fast products feel magical. Fast kid responses ('hold on') kill magic. Be present or say when.
Kim Scott's radical candor starts with one question: when something goes wrong, ask yourself 'Why didn't they tell me sooner?' You made it unsafe—shot the messenger, got defensive. So they stopped bringing problems early.
Your kid's been struggling with something for weeks. The loud sounds at school. The anxiety about the dark. The confusion about why you and daddy don't live together anymore. They're just now telling you, in the Target parking lot, while you're already twenty minutes late to the thing you forgot about.
Why didn't they tell you sooner? Because last time they tried, you were on your phone. Or you immediately launched into fix-it mode before they finished. Or you said "that's not a big deal" because you were too tired.
So they stopped bringing things early, when they're small. Now they're bringing them at maximum inconvenience, when they've metastasized into full-blown public crises.
You trained them to do this. Congratulations.
