Many problems that don't seem like people problems, still are

In theory, being logical and objective is always the answer.

In practice, a LOT of problems have a large component to them that are people problems.

Everything from winning B2B proposals, as Bob Wiesner discusses in his insightful book “Winning is Better”, to designing and building technical systems (because unless you’re doing this yourself, you need to hire and coordinate people who can).

Ignoring messy human factors like personal interests, emotions, and social needs, is tempting.

The idea of keeping things professional and work-related at work aims to simplify decision-making. We'd like to believe that people will work just as hard in the absence of building real relationships. And that emotional needs are something people set aside when they show up to do an objective job for an objective payout.

There's some for which this is the case, and a lot more for which it's not.

A people-oriented approach is both the kinder and also more long-term effective way to do things.