Success

What does it take to be successful? In life? At work? In your dreams? Is there one answer or many?

There's a Facebook application called compare people and it gives people all kinds of superficial ways to compare different people: how is hotter, who is more popular, who is better looking. It also gives you the opportunity to compare people based on who is a better friend, who is nicer, who is more thoughtful and who you'd rather be stuck on a deserted island with.

So what makes you a good friend or a good person? What makes you a good employee? A valued employee? What makes for a successful business?

As a friend, I know that it's important to listen. It's not always easy and often times I'd rather give opinions but I really believe that listening is what is key no matter how good your advice is. If it's great advice for the wrong situation, it's useless.

In business, we're constantly trying to create amazing and useful products. Ideally customers buy our products because we solve a problem for them, we make their lives easier and we help their lives. This is especially true if you're in the business of creating new products (which we are at Embarcadero). I was reading an article by Joel Spolsky and he brought up a simple point that really resonated with me. Simply put: listen! If you want to be a good friend, listen to your friends. If you want to be a good manager, listen to your employees. If you want to produce good products, listen to your customers, sales staff and developers. In life, if there's ever a time where you don't know what to do, go find someone you respect, talk to them and then start listening.

Good things are bound to happen.