It's not uncommon to hear leaders calling their teams a big “family”.

Cute, but reality lies elsewhere.

A positive spin may work during good times, but the uncomfortable reality tends to erupt during difficult and challenging times.

Families (ideally) tend to be driven by love, affection, and belonging.

Companies tend to display conditional support based on performance and contribution. They also build systems that rely on individual growth in terms of performance, skills, and competencies.

At the end of the day, a company is a “capitalist” entity and its true north is centred around the “capital” goals including their top-line and bottom-line.

Remember, at work: We can be friendly, but we aren’t always friends.