I've had similar problems before, where a focus on fixing things was derided because it wasn't "Friendly". I've actually noticed a correlation between how much

I've had similar problems before, where a focus on fixing things was derided because it wasn't "Friendly". I've actually noticed a correlation between how much people value superficial interactions, and how valuable that person is compared to others in their field. That is, if a manager is more concerned with "Hi, how are you"'s then "The server is literally on fire, I need to get into the server room to put it out", they are much more likely to be incompetant then the average manager, and know it, which is why they're trying to buff their 'soft' skills. This only applies to superficial reactions, not stuff like "When you attack people as your opening sentence, it makes them defensive" style stuff. If it actually matters, it's not what I'm talking about.