YOUR MANAGER IS NOT YOUR BEST FRIEND

Summary from the TLDR Design newsletter

Commiserating with direct reports may feel natural, but it's highly corrosive to team trust and organizational cohesion, subtly encouraging division, victimhood, and poor cross-team collaboration. Instead, effective managers should take a therapist-like approach—empathetic but curious and objective—using questions, perspective, and clear frameworks to steer conversations toward constructive action rather than shared grievances.