IF YOU ARE SECURE IN YOUR LEADERSHIP, SHOULD YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM BE YOUR FRIENDS?

Real answer is more complicated than how one might initially react.

We are taught NOT to entangle with your management team in fear of losing objectivity.

In my 30 years of managing a close team, from my own business to large corporate structures, there is a fine line between friendly and friends.

Deciding point is respect from your team.

Always be friendly, be warm, be human — but close friendship with people you evaluate is a structural conflict, not just a personal choice.

There is a desire to be close to those you spend 70-75% of your professional time with :

+ Trust is the fastest currency People share bad news early with leaders they like, and that is what saves the business and projects

+ Loyalty in hard moments more often comes from relationships based on honest communication (about good or bad) not compensation

+ Remote/hybrid teams in this day and age especially need human connection to hold culture together and work as a team

I have myself experienced and learned from:

- Decision Distortion

Promotions, ratings, layoffs, and comp decisions must be made on merit and neutrality Friendship may make necessary calls feel like betrayal

- Information Asymmetry

Friends of the leader hear things first, which reads as favoritism to everyone else — and erodes trust with the wider organization. It also creates a desire "to be favorite", which complicates everything

- If you can't imagine firing them, you can't manage them That's the real test of your own neutrality

- Function vs. Personality

When a friend-leader leaves or is replaced, the whole team dynamic collapses because it was built on a person, not a role

Happy and practical middle

> Warmth and Genuine CARE

Confiding, socializing as equals. However, inside jokes the rest don't share, need careful reflection

> Visible standard is EQUAL

Praise in public, evaluate in private, and let the team see that decisions follow criteria, not just relationships

☆ One rule that resolves most of it: Never let the friendship give someone an advantage — or a disadvantage — that their work doesn't justify

30 year LESSON:

□ Best leaders are respected, liked and trusted.

□ Believed and proven to be fair based on merit, priorities based on objectives, which are clearly and honestly communicated.

□ Everyone has a right to voice an opinion without fear

□ Openness and permission promotes enthusiasm.

□ Enthusiasm drives creativity

□ Creativity fuels results and improvements