Managers Can't Be An Employee's Friend

It can be difficult to care for an employee, yet have to tell them when they're not meeting deadlines or goals.

This is one of the challenges Katia Beauchamp, co-founder of Birchbox, figured out very early on.

Her challenge was "trying to figure out the balance of caring about somebody and managing somebody. I guess it's what being a parent feels like - you care about your child, but you still have to ask them to do things and set goals and milestones for them, and tell them when they are not meeting those objectives," Beauchamp tells Adam Bryant at The New York Times.

She says she was so empathetic that it didn't work out so well for her as a manager in the beginning.

Instead, Beauchamp had to learn how to redirect people's energy if it wasn't focused. She realized she wasn't doing herself - or her employees - any good by being their friend. She had to learn how to focus on the highest priorities and say "no" when needed.

"Because what I want is somebody to develop me," she said. "I want that from my board and my advisers. I want people to challenge me. I don't want people to tell me everything I do is awesome."

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