Some managers attempt to bring the skills that keep them on top at the office into their homes, but that generally doesn't work. Family life is not the office, according to one CEO, who says, "the whole economic system shifts, from capitalism at work to communism at home." At home, everybody's happiness is at issue, not just the boss's. Although managers who succeed at the office might fail at home, the opposite is rarely true. Managers who know how to handle their own family often do better at the office than those who don't. At least one survey indicates that "employees rate their bosses with dependents more highly than they rate their bosses with none."

Although some sociologists believe that family members are fearful of "borrowed authority from the workplace" and may consciously resist it, others believe that running a family just takes an entirely different set of tactics - like empathy, charm, cooperation and, above all, love.

"How can you lead a staff but not a family?" from AZ Central (Arizona)