Can you be friends with the people you lead? Most HR advice says no. In this conversation, Jenni sits down with Marcylle Combs, entrepreneur, executive mentor, and author of Never Hire Your Friends, to talk about why friendship at work, handled well, can be a leader's greatest asset.

Marcylle has spent more than three decades leading organizations. Her leadership story started with a hard moment. Early in her career as a young home health branch manager, she learned that her entire team had met with the company owner to complain about her. A wise colleague gave her two choices: sit down with every employee, or start firing them. Marcylle chose to listen. That moment turned a reluctant manager into a lifelong student of leadership, with a goal of being both the hardest and the best boss her people would ever have.

Jenni and Marcylle dig into what Marcylle calls "friendship management," the ongoing tension between discipline and grace, and why clear expectations are what make close relationships at work possible. They also talk about what emerging leaders need from those of us who have been leading for decades.

What you'll hear

  • Marcylle's leadership wake-up call, and why she chose to listen instead of clean house
  • How to hold people to a high standard while making sure they know you care
  • Why knowing when to give discipline and when to give grace takes mentoring, not just a policy manual
  • Why Never Hire Your Friends really means always hire your friends, and the three pillars behind it: honor, honesty, and humility
  • Setting ground rules for friendships at work, from "boss hat vs. friend hat" to what an email, a text, or a phone call signals
  • How senior leaders can better understand and mentor a younger generation whose experience is very different from their own
  • Marcylle's encouragement: the only person you can change is yourself, so keep learning and keep investing in others

Connect with Marcylle Combs

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