Being the friendly boss sounds like a good idea. You want your team to feel comfortable around you, speak openly and know that you’re not the kind of manager who pulls rank at every opportunity.But Hemant Wadhwani says his own experience taught him that there can be a downside to being too relaxed with the people you manage.In a post shared on Instagram, Wadhwani looked back at a previous job where he was responsible for a team. He said he never liked making junior employees feel as though he was somehow above them.That approach, however, eventually made him rethink where a manager should draw the line.
‘Never ever be a cool boss’
Wadhwani began his post with a blunt warning: “Never ever be a cool boss. I repeat, never ever be a cool boss.”He explained that treating people as equals had always been part of his personality. Even when he was managing someone, he didn’t want them to feel that he was acting superior.“I don’t like to make people feel like I am superior to them,” he said, describing how he interacted with colleagues and the people working under him.But looking back, he believes he may have gone too far in trying to create that kind of relationship.
Too much freedom can create problems
According to Wadhwani, he gave his team considerable freedom and flexibility because he trusted them and wanted to maintain a friendly working relationship.Over time, though, he felt that some of that freedom was being taken for granted.“That is something which is very important. You need to create some boundaries, some very clear boundaries,” he said.He added that the leverage he had given people could eventually work against him, saying he had seen situations where trust was misused and people could turn against the person who had given them that freedom.
His advice to managers
Wadhwani’s takeaway isn’t that bosses should be cold or distant. Rather, he believes managers need to make the professional relationship clear from the beginning.“I gave a lot of leverage to all my team, all the people who were junior to me,” he said. “But this is one of my advice from all this experience: that it’s always better to maintain a line between and to make your boundaries very clear.”He summed up the message in the caption accompanying the post: “Never be a cool boss.”
Not everyone agreed
The post also sparked a debate about what a healthy manager-employee relationship should actually look like.Some viewers agreed that workplace boundaries matter, particularly when one person has authority over another.“Boundaries are important at work,” one user wrote.Another said, “Respect matters more than being ‘cool’.”But others felt the message was too broad. Being approachable or kind, they argued, doesn’t necessarily mean a manager has given up authority.“Being kind is not the problem,” one person commented.Another viewer simply said, “This is actually very relatable.”And that’s probably where the debate gets interesting. A good manager doesn’t necessarily have to choose between being approachable and being respected. The harder part is knowing where friendliness ends and professional boundaries begin.
