I tried Team Lead role twice and I had to step down to sleep well. Unfortunately I couldn't bring together strict or sometimes stupid management expectations a

I tried Team Lead role twice and I had to step down to sleep well. Unfortunately I couldn't bring together strict or sometimes stupid management expectations and my friendly relation with the team mates. In my opinion the higher management too often expects Team Leads to act as managers. Once you get into their world of politics, secrets, appraisals your relation with the team gets complicated. So finally I have found Technical Lead/Architect/Principal Engineer roles as best match for myself. I can digest politics as everyone else in the team but most importantly I can lead my followers by inspiration and friendly discussion. Leading, not managing!