There is expected to be a level of bond between the leader and the followers. A strained relationship between the leader and his team members is not good for any of the two parties. Your team members are to be your friends, as they are not slaves. They are to be close to you and must be able to relate to you.

Compare this to a servant or a slave who is unable to approach the master because of the slave-master relationship. This slave-master relationship is found in many cases and that has caused the fall of many leaders. The business graveyard is littered with leaders who confused authority with alienation. They built walls instead of bridges, created fear instead of friendship, and ultimately destroyed the very thing they were trying to build. The most successful leaders in corporate history understood a fundamental truth: a team's loyalty isn't born from intimidation, rather it is born from connection.

Richard Branson of the Virgin Group is a model of how leaders are to be connected to their team members. Walk into any Virgin office, and you will struggle to identify who the boss is based on how people interact. Branson has built his entire leadership philosophy around the idea that hierarchy shouldn't mean hostility. He knows his employees by name, asks about their families, and creates an environment where a junior executive can walk up to him with an idea or concern without fear of retribution. This isn't just good human relation but smart business activity. Virgin's innovation rate and employee retention consistently outperform companies where leaders hide behind titles and corner offices.

Slaves are never close to their masters. Slaves can't advise their masters. Masters do not regard slaves as having any level of intelligence that can be explored or tapped. If your team members do not fit into the above description of slaves, then make them your friends. The slave-master dynamic is more common in the African corporate environment than we care to admit. This may perhaps be due to our culture, however, with globalization, there are enough lessons to learn from the developed continents.

Too many leaders create environments where team members speak only when spoken to, contribute only when asked, and innovate only when instructed. Many years ago, I had a manager who created palpable fear in everyone that worked with him and looking back, I was always going to the office with fear in my heart.

This friendship-based leadership shows up in small ways that create big results. When a marketing director remembers that the brand manager’s daughter just started university and asks about the transition and a departmental head notices his usually punctual team member arriving late and asks if everything is okay at home rather than just issuing a warning, then the organization is on a trajectory of big growth. When Southwest Airlines was facing its biggest crisis after the September 11 attack, it wasn't just CEO policies that saved the company, it was the relationships Herb Kelleher had built with employees at every level. Flight attendants, baggage handlers, and pilots didn't just work for Southwest; they fought for it because they knew Kelleher fought for them. He didn't send memos from the executive floor; he served peanuts on flights, loaded baggage during busy periods, and treated every employee like someone whose opinion mattered.

Many leaders have been allowed to fall into deep crisis because they see their team members as people that can't offer any advice. What happens therefore, is that when the leader is about to take the wrong step, the team members watch and say nothing simply because they aren't allowed to contribute. The corporate world is full of preventable disasters that happened because leaders surrounded themselves with yes-men instead of truth-tellers.

The case of Theranos comes to mind. Elizabeth Holmes created such a culture of fear and secrecy that scientists who knew the technology didn't work were afraid to speak up. The few who tried were silenced or fired. Had Holmes built relationships based on trust instead of intimidation, someone might have saved her from herself and by extension, the investors from losing billions.

In closing, let's be clear about what this friendship looks like in practice. It's not about being buddies who hang out after work or friends who ignore poor performance. It's about creating relationships built on mutual respect, open communication, and shared purpose. It's about being approachable without being a pushover, being caring without being careless about standards. The leaders who master this balance discover something powerful which is people who feel valued as human beings perform as exceptional professionals.

When they know their leader genuinely cares about their success, they will move mountains to ensure mutual success. When they feel safe to speak truth to power, they will help power make better decisions. Creating psychological safety with your team members helps you leverage their intelligence, experience and perspectives and that makes you a better leader.

Oluwole Dada is the General Manager at SecureID Limited, Africa’s largest smart card manufacturing plant in Lagos, Nigeria.