On the surface, it seems perfectly natural — and often expected — that a CEO maintains a close relationship with employees. Many prominent business leaders promote this approach. Take the late Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, for example, who was well known for championing an employee-centric culture and framing care and connection as a competitive advantage. While this approach can work in some organizations, it should not be adopted universally.
There are undeniable benefits to close working relationships: stronger vision alignment, willingness to go above and beyond, and deeper sharing of company values. However, there are also real and often overlooked downsides. One of the most common is that accountability begins to shift. Instead of being clearly defined by role and responsibility, it gradually becomes something negotiated — sometimes subtly, sometimes unconsciously.
Close working relationships can also increase a CEO’s stress if not carefully managed. Emotional proximity can cloud judgment and introduce flexibility where clear standards should exist. When boundaries blur, so too does clarity around where responsibility begins and ends.
To lead effectively and help teams perform at their best, CEOs must maintain professional detachment. This does not mean being cold, distant, or aloof. It means maintaining consistent professional distance across all employees so that decisions are made objectively, fairly, and with clarity of purpose — in the best interests of both the individual and the organization.
There is also a psychological burden that comes with close relationships, and this burden falls disproportionately on the CEO. When professional boundaries begin to blur, it is the leader who must restore them — or avoid doing so if the emotional cost feels too high. Left unresolved, this creates ongoing friction that ultimately harms the organization.
One clear warning sign stands above the rest: covering for underperformance. This often appears in subtle ways — redoing an employee’s work because it feels easier or faster, rationalizing missed standards by saying “they are going through a lot,” or allowing problems to persist when they should be addressed early. In these moments, compassion can slowly and stealthily become tolerance of poor execution.
Professional distance is not the absence of care — it is the structure that allows fairness, accountability, and clarity to exist. When emotional closeness begins to distort standards, leadership becomes harder, decisions become harder, and performance inevitably suffers.
