Links for May 23 2010

• You’re Just the Founder « Steve Blank

  A great reminder to everyone that what you do today might just come back around to bite you in the future.

• Applying Behavioral Economics to Reduce Project Failures by Chris Curran on CIO Dashboard

  Very interesting take on using Behavioral Economics Theory to help with Project decision making. Great read

• The Most Important Leadership Quality for CEOs? Creativity | Fast Company

  Quote: For CEOs, creativity is now the most important leadership quality for success in business, outweighing even integrity and global thinking, according to a new study by IBM. The study is the largest known sample of one-on-one CEO interviews, with over 1,500 corporate heads and public sector leaders across 60 nations and 33 industries polled on what drives them in managing their companies in today’s world.

• All Things Workplace: Managers and Self Leadership by Steve Roesler on All Things Workplace

  Quote: We teach leaders how to design and execute change, how to let go of things, and how to delegate. We don’t often teach the other people how to “hang on” through all of this. What gives a manager the biggest payoff during these times? Self-leadership.

• Mind the gap by Don Sull on Don Sull’s Blog | FT.com

  Quote: The human mind is hard-wired to reinforce existing maps, even in the face of dis-confirming evidence. Psychologists have documented a depressingly long list of cognitive biases that distort how people process new information and prevent them from noticing when established mental models break down. The “confirmation bias” refers to our tendency to notice data that confirms existing assumptions, and while ignoring or discrediting information which challenges our assumptions. When faced with data that doesn’t jibe with existing assumptions, people typically ignore it, discredit it, or force it to fit their model.

• Why Startups Should Train Their People by Ben Horowitz on ben’s blog

  Quote: Almost everyone who builds a technology company knows that people are the most important asset. Properly run start-ups place a great deal of emphasis on recruiting and the interview process in order to build their talent base. Unfortunately, often the investment in people stops there. There are four core reasons why it shouldn’t:

• Tech Support *is* sales by Jason Cohen on a smart bear

  Quote: For most of your customers, tech support is the only human interaction they’ll have with you. Are you really going to leave that up to your worst-treated, least-paid, least-qualified employees?

• Warren Buffet on Envy and the Seven Deadly Sins by Charles H. Green on Trust Matters

  Quote from Buffet: If you’re going to pick a sin, go with something like lust or gluttony. That way at least you’ll have something to remember the weekend for.

• Want to Get to Know Somebody? Understand Their Story by Donald Miller

  Quote: We are much more than our work and even our family. These formulaic questions evolved from the need to make conversation more than the desire to get know somebody. What results is we begin to think that people are fairly boring. But it’s not the case.