The Hidden Glue That Creates Resilient Organizations

Bob and Josh dig into a recent HBR article on the leadership case for friendship-based culture. Not the toxic "we're a family" version, but something real, where leaders model and encourage genuine relationships, invest in face-to-face time, and treat connection as the glue that holds organizations together through hard seasons.

Bob shares how friends at work covered for him during a brutal divorce, Josh argues the tightest bonds come from shared struggle, and both call BS on the "we're too big for this" excuse. The leadership payoff is real, from retention to easier hard conversations to organizational resilience.

• Radical Candor by Kim Scott (Bob's reference to "care personally and challenge directly")
• Employees Are Relying on AI for Personal Support. That's Risky. by Constance Noonan Hadley and Sarah Wright, Harvard Business Review (companion piece on AI eroding human connection at work)
• Don't Underestimate the Value of Professional Friendships by Paul Ingram, Harvard Business Review (the article that sparked the episode)

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