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I don’t think most jobs need a comparison to a military hierarchy. In general, lives are not on the line.

It is entirely possible to be friends with employees. You are not a king, or a despot, or a colonel in the armed forces. The first big mistake new managers make is to try to still act like a single contributor. The second one is taking the management part of the job too seriously.

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Yes and no...a manager in any other enterprise won't be in the position of having to give people orders which will almost definitely kill them.

Conversely: you're in charge - in some way, of hiring, firing, salary and promotions even if not directly. People don't generally have multiple jobs, the relationship of employee to business is a direct stake in their private financial situation.

To be clear, I don't think establishing dominance is the end goal - there is just a natural distance between ICs and managers, similar to the enlisted/officer split in the military. IME, managers that want to be friends with ICs aren't as effective.

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