Nice girls don't get the corner office

Recently, in a bookstore in a train station, I flipped through a book called 'Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office'. I can hardly remember any facts, but I do remember that I agreed with some of them.

Now I'm not too sure if I really want that corner office (I might be very ambitious, but at the moment I'm not too keen on solving other peoples problems all the time), but it makes me think of the level of 'niceness' involved in pursuing a career - especially as a woman. I think I'm a nice colleague, and I think I'm also a nice boss, but I also think there have to be limits to niceness.

E.g. I don't think you can or should be close friends with a colleague. It might work when he or she is a peer, but it's difficult if they are reporting into you, or if you train them. It is much more dificult to criticise a friend or even to be authoritative. While I think it's nice to be friends with (junior) colleagues, I don't think it's beneficial for their learning curve, except when all parties involved are very clear that at work, you're colleagues and outside of work, you're friends. In my experience, and I hate to say it, this is especially difficult with women, who are generally more likely to take criticism personally than men do.

Therefore, I have been surprised by the high level of niceness in this office. It seems to work - maybe I have to take lessons in this ;-). But then again, I think that a certain level -just a little bit- of authoritarianism is required. Maybe this is just my Tiger personality speaking (Tiger as in Chinese zodiac sign). Or maybe I do want that corner office after all.