Being friends with your boss is nice - but often times ineffective for making change happen.
What you need are the models and skills for persuasion.

Persuasion means translating what you know into language that resonates with someone else.

This is how I got my CEO to change his pitches, got funding for team projects, and solved an "impossible" problem at the big G.

We all have different approaches for leadership.
Here's some that worked very well for me - and I've seen others use them also.

Being a leader/manager/supervisor is a specific kind of responsibility.
It's about helping your team become more productive.

Every podcast has a first episode - this is ours.