Humans like putting things in categories. Whether it's movies, music, or restaurants, it's comfortable for us to parse things into different groups in our minds. It's one of the traits that allows us to manage a world of staggering complexity. We also like to do it with our relationships. We put people into relationship buckets: he's my work colleague, she's my friend, he's just an acquaintance, etc. But it's not always as clear cut as we would like it to be. What about a long-term client who has become a friend or a friend who you hired to work for you? This has only been exacerbated by the advent of social networking platforms … [Read more...]