Great points. Strongly agree with #3 in particular ("like a family") because I've made this exact mistake with companies I've led in the past. To elaborate on

Great points. Strongly agree with #3 in particular ("like a family") because I've made this exact mistake with companies I've led in the past. To elaborate on what the piece touches on but doesn't specifically say: > You will need to make hard decisions for the sake of > the business. You can’t actually offer people anything > remotely close to lifelong loyalty or security, and it’s > dishonest to implicitly do so. To be clear(er): You will have to fire people, and firing someone who thinks of themselves as a family member or who you think of as similar makes the whole thing much more painful. Further, it can make you, as a leader, hesitate when it's an action you really need to take ("but this person is like my brother - we'll make it work!"). At my most recent company, we took the opposite approach -- we all liked each other a lot, we worked well together, and we ate lunch together as a team, but at 6pm everyone went home to their own lives and families. The lines were clear, the understandings were there, and I think it was a much better way to run things.