Useful posts this week

I don't want this site to just be a link farm -- I really don't. I hope to come up with some of my own useful analysis and become a thinker on my own terms. But damn it if there aren't some posts out there really worth reading. I guess I haven't cornered the market on brains just yet.

• Unexpressed Fears: Michael Wade talks about how to turn that "gut feeling of unease" into a set of questions to ask yourself.


• The Teaching Leader: Keven Meyer on some insights into leadership, and how the idea has been turned upside down in US industry.


• What Difference a Word Makes: Carmine Coyote talks about the difference between encouragement and motivation regarding leadership.


• Look at "Other Things" for Inspiration and Direction: Steve has a short post about getting inspired, and though he is speaking about music, the ideas seem applicable to other innovator industries as well.


• And a late arrival: How to Network for Introverts, because I am one.
  

Joel on Software's RSS feed added

I just added Joel Spolsky's blog RSS to my sidebar. This wouldn't be a newsworthy event except that I really want to draw attention to his success. He's a software engineer now managing a software company (Fog Creek) which seems to make some pretty popular products.

He also has some really radical-sounding ideas on how to run a superb software company. Interestingly, most of those ideas boil down to the following arguments:

• Make products people want.
• Don't be cheap -- spend what you need to spend, no less (but no more).
• Treat your customers like friends, not enemies.

Deceptively simple, that last one. It's especially hard to achieve in a B2B environment, as clients often feel like they need to constantly squeeze you for value. It's only human to want to push back.

But you'll hear more about that from me later.