diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index ebcb20b73..f04f79420 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ require (
 
 require (
 	github.com/AdaLogics/go-fuzz-headers v0.0.0-20230811130428-ced1acdcaa24
+	github.com/bombsimon/logrusr/v4 v4.1.0
 	github.com/prometheus/client_model v0.5.0
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0
 	k8s.io/utils v0.0.0-20230505201702-9f6742963106
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 3c0b70905..d8e790c01 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ github.com/beorn7/perks v0.0.0-20180321164747-3a771d992973/go.mod h1:Dwedo/Wpr24
 github.com/beorn7/perks v1.0.0/go.mod h1:KWe93zE9D1o94FZ5RNwFwVgaQK1VOXiVxmqh+CedLV8=
 github.com/beorn7/perks v1.0.1 h1:VlbKKnNfV8bJzeqoa4cOKqO6bYr3WgKZxO8Z16+hsOM=
 github.com/beorn7/perks v1.0.1/go.mod h1:G2ZrVWU2WbWT9wwq4/hrbKbnv/1ERSJQ0ibhJ6rlkpw=
+github.com/bombsimon/logrusr/v4 v4.1.0 h1:uZNPbwusB0eUXlO8hIUwStE6Lr5bLN6IgYgG+75kuh4=
+github.com/bombsimon/logrusr/v4 v4.1.0/go.mod h1:pjfHC5e59CvjTBIU3V3sGhFWFAnsnhOR03TRc6im0l8=
 github.com/briandowns/spinner v0.0.0-20190212173954-5cf08d0ac778 h1:Dmz6bJXocvwkw7BOz4jpyVZReGrkjs+fBDWKn5tBES4=
 github.com/briandowns/spinner v0.0.0-20190212173954-5cf08d0ac778/go.mod h1:hw/JEQBIE+c/BLI4aKM8UU8v+ZqrD3h7HC27kKt8JQU=
 github.com/bshuster-repo/logrus-logstash-hook v1.0.0 h1:e+C0SB5R1pu//O4MQ3f9cFuPGoOVeF2fE4Og9otCc70=
diff --git a/pkg/flags/flags.go b/pkg/flags/flags.go
index 7df09f25d..f447ac6cc 100644
--- a/pkg/flags/flags.go
+++ b/pkg/flags/flags.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"os"
 
 	"github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/pkg/version"
+
+	"github.com/bombsimon/logrusr/v4"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/cli/values"
@@ -28,11 +30,6 @@ const (
 // func calls flag.Parse(), so it should be called after all other flags have
 // been configured.
 func ConfigureAndParse(cmd *flag.FlagSet, args []string) {
-	klog.InitFlags(nil)
-	flag.Set("stderrthreshold", "FATAL")
-	flag.Set("logtostderr", "false")
-	flag.Set("log_file", "/dev/null")
-	flag.Set("v", "0")
 	logLevel := cmd.String("log-level", log.InfoLevel.String(),
 		"log level, must be one of: panic, fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace")
 	logFormat := cmd.String("log-format", "plain",
@@ -44,9 +41,11 @@ func ConfigureAndParse(cmd *flag.FlagSet, args []string) {
 	//nolint:errcheck
 	cmd.Parse(args)
 
-	// set log timestamps
 	log.SetFormatter(getFormatter(*logFormat))
 
+	klog.InitFlags(nil)
+	klog.SetLogger(logrusr.New(log.StandardLogger()))
+
 	setLogLevel(*logLevel)
 	maybePrintVersionAndExit(*printVersion)
 }
@@ -66,16 +65,26 @@ func setLogLevel(logLevel string) {
 	}
 	log.SetLevel(level)
 
-	if level >= log.DebugLevel {
-		flag.Set("stderrthreshold", "INFO")
-		flag.Set("logtostderr", "true")
+	// Loosely based on k8s logging conventions, except for 'tracing' that we
+	// bump to 10 (we can see in client-go source code that level is actually
+	// used) and `debug` to 6 (given that at level 7 and higher auth tokens get
+	// logged)
+	// https://github.com/kubernetes/community/blob/master/contributors/devel/sig-instrumentation/logging.md
+	switch level {
+	case log.PanicLevel:
+		flag.Set("v", "0")
+	case log.FatalLevel:
+		flag.Set("v", "0")
+	case log.ErrorLevel:
+		flag.Set("v", "0")
+	case log.WarnLevel:
+		flag.Set("v", "0")
+	case log.InfoLevel:
+		flag.Set("v", "2")
+	case log.DebugLevel:
 		flag.Set("v", "6")
-		// pipe klog entries to logrus
-		klog.SetOutput(log.StandardLogger().Writer())
-	}
-
-	if level >= log.TraceLevel {
-		flag.Set("v", "12") // At 7 and higher, authorization tokens get logged.
+	case log.TraceLevel:
+		flag.Set("v", "10")
 	}
 }