How do I lead with care and still make hard calls?

You have found something many leaders never do: you can care about your people and still make the calls that hurt. That is rare. Hold onto it, because the pressure will always be there to pick one and drop the other, to go cold or go soft. The hard calls do not cancel out the care. In fact, your people can accept a hard call from you precisely because they know you are not careless with them. Care is what earns you the right to ask hard things. Keep letting them see both. Do not hide the care to look tough, and do not soften the call to be liked. One thing to protect: check that you are not quietly running yourself down carrying all of this. Even a steady leader needs someone above or beside them to lean on. Find that person and use them. You keep others standing; make sure someone is helping you stand too.