Being Nice Pays Off, according to Google

I came across this story the other day, and found it to be dead on with respect to why some teams work so well together.

I also believe it is one of the reasons why agile teams are more successful than waterfall teams.  Agile teams have the philosophy that you live and die by the team.  There is no individual ownership of the code.  All code can be modified by all team members, and the team as a whole is accountable for both successes and failures.

http://gizmosudan.com/after-years-of-intensive-analysis-google-discovers-the-key-to-good-teamwork-is-being-nice/

The Value of Vision

I recently saw a video on Ted.com by Simon Senik that discussed How great leaders inspire others.  The video changed my perception about how one should lead a small company with a vision.

It is an easy trap to focus first on what we do; then how we do that; and finally why we do it.  The video suggests that the goal of a company should not be to do business with everybody who needs what you have!  Truly inspired companies sell to people who believe what they believe; and then tell them how to work in that belief system, and lastly what they do.

My mission for the end of the year is to build a new vision for our organization based on the theory that People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it!