&gt;What does it mean to remember that you are talking to a person?<p>Your interpretation is overly literal, IMO. In the context of giving critical feedback, it&#x27;s easy to focus on the problem, the specific area you want to correct, and reduce the person on the other side to just being the cause of the problem.<p>For example, you&#x27;re a team lead and have a developer on your team who routinely writes buggy code and shipped a broken feature last release, which caused a kerfuffle with a major client.<p>When you meet with them to discuss what happened, in your mind, you&#x27;re not talking to &quot;a person&quot;. You&#x27;re talking to the developer who caused this big problem you have to deal with. In your mind, you are handling a problem, not talking to a person.<p>It&#x27;s easy to forget that the developer is a person with a lifetime of experiences different from yours, a different perspective, different strengths and weaknesses, different insecurities, different stuff going on in their personal life. You need to remember they are &quot;a person&quot; and as such, entitled to a modicum of dignity and respect.<p>So, sure, address the problem with radical candor, but remember this problem does not define the entirety of the person. In other words, treat them how you would want to be treated, because I assure you, their life is just as important to them as yours is to you.<p>At least, that&#x27;s my interpretation.<p>And if your response is still, &quot;Duh, that&#x27;s obvious,&quot; then maybe you&#x27;re just better at giving critical feedback than most people. I haven&#x27;t been on the receiving end myself, but I have often seen managers give feedback that is belittling and reduces the entire worth of a person to a single mistake.