79 F Fear or friendship? Gordon Gekko, the banking villain of the 1987 film Wall Street, famously announced, `If you want a friend, buy a dog.' He joins a long line of bankers who are hated and thinkers who doubt the value of friendship. Machiavelli in The Prince (published formally in 1532) advises rulers that it is better to be feared than loved, because love is fickle. Nothing much has changed in the last 500 years or so. For weak managers, friendship is the low road to an easy life and poor performance. Managers who seek friendship curry favour, avoid hard decisions, duck conflict and ask for modest performance. The reward for chasing popularity is weakness.