There once was a young man who wanted an effective manager. He found tough managers who helped their organizations at the expense of their employees (Ken Blanchard, Spencer Johnson, 1982) and nice managers who helped employees at the expense of their organizations (14). "Effective managers," he thought, "manage themselves and the people they work with so that both the organization and the people profit from their presence (15)."

Programmers are perfectly imperfect, just like everyone else. So, how do we sometimes manage to write nearly perfect software? We test the hell out of it! We write test suites, programs to test our programs. Programs have a tendency of becoming monstrously complex and break after making the most innocent of changes. But that's okay. We dutifully run our test suite and it ensures correct program behavior from the tiniest of details to the overall system. If a test fails, after having succeeded before modifying the program, we know that our change wasn't so innocent after all.

I've found two major ways of going after what I want, namely success and curiosity. When first consciously thinking about this, I choose success. What do I mean? Well, I'd start by writing out a lofty goal of what I specifically wanted to accomplish and when. Then, I'd slave away at my goal for the sake of completing it. I'm all for setting goals that provide a little pressure, but in excess this approach wins the award for the least motivating and most painful method of personal growth in my life.

Programming is the career that allows you to bring your logic to life! With mental clarity, goals, social interaction, and embracing failure along with the success, you to can win at programming and code like a ninja!

There comes a point in every man's life where he goes through a week so intense that he just wants to pick up a pen and write. What does he write? A girly girl's poem of love for his friend of course! Here's my attempt.

Sir Richard Branson is my hero! He's one of the most adventurous, physically active, excessively happy, appreciative of humanity, and all around awesome people I know. Let's take some time to explore his mantra of living large, lifelong learning, and interacting with others.

Let's play a game! Without immediately reading the next paragraph, can you spot the difference between the following two statements?

So we're starting businesses... But where exactly do we start? I called Henry Friesen, an entrepreneur in the extended family, for some answers! Our discussion focused on acquiring domain expertise, getting into the minds of customers, and dealing with the almost certain failures along the way.

Authority. A lot of us have been abused by a pseudo form of it at one time or another and may be somewhat jaded as a result. On the other hand, some of us may passively accept the ideas of anyone claiming authority in an effort to keep them happy. This article is for those pissed off by it and, likewise, those who accept all of it.

We have an incredible management opportunity right in front of us. It's called the home! Here, we can transform everyday activities, such as cleaning, hosting dinner parties, and simply getting along with those we live with, from being mundane into personal development exercises to align ourselves with a higher calling in the workplace.