Liked is nice. Respected is useful. When you have to choose, pick the one that survives a hard decision.

Being liked is pleasant and it moves around, since it depends heavily on whether people got what they wanted from you today. Respect survives disappointing someone, which is exactly when you need it. Both are worth having and they only collide occasionally, but when they do, the one that holds a group together through an unpopular decision is not the warm-feeling one.

Notice when you are softening a call to keep somebody happy this week. Make the version you would defend in a month instead. Then be warm about it, because respect and coldness are not the same thing and people confuse them constantly.