My good friend and past boss, Vadim Liberman, joined me on an episode of Let’s Fix Work recently. We talked about the future of work and technology trends. One of the topics we discussed was workplace relations. 

We have a line in our society right now where everybody’s collaborative, they’re friends with coworkers or think of their workplace as family. The entire culture as of late is that you go to work to learn and grow and love. All these things that we used to do outside of work are now happening within work. 

Vadim brought up an interesting point, which was, “You can be friendly with your boss, but you shouldn’t be friends with your boss.”

I don’t disagree with that sentiment. You can’t really be friends with your boss. 

But, that’s not what we tell people today. We sell them on the line that your boss can be your friend and your boss wants what’s best for you. Your boss is almost like your dad or your mom.

According to Vadim, “Family at work, it’s a buzzword that gets thrown around a lot.” In the context of workplaces, Vadim thinks something else transcends the notion of family, which is community. 

Community has a lot of similarities to families. There is respect, empathy, kindness, and fun. But it’s not family. You don’t get to choose your family, but you do choose your community. Vadim thinks that’s a powerful notion. 

Community is far more descriptive of what a great culture can feel like.

If you want to hear more of my conversation with Vadim Liberman about the future of work and technology trends then head over here to listen to this episode of Let’s Fix Work