“I can’t be their friend, but I shouldn’t be seen as the enemy.”
Should you become friends with your boss? It’s a question both employees and leaders ask themselves. One of the first pieces of advice I remember receiving when I became a supervisor was, “Your goal should not be to become their friend.” While that’s sound advice that is well documented in leadership theory, the issue arises when bosses take the I’m-not-their-friend philosophy too far and assume that it isn’t a problem when employees consider them the enemy. This post is the third in a series featuring excerpts from Burl Stamp’s upcoming new book, Becoming a Better Boss, which is scheduled to be published next year. This entry is from the chapter titled “The Better Boss Mindset.” I experienced first-hand how this exaggerated, warped view of leadership