Mike and I went out to the Game Developers Conference last week, and had a wonderful experience. I spoke to about 1,000 people, we think, and the talk can be found here.

We want to say thanks to Bob Raffei, a Manager Tools member who arranged the invite. Bob is just pure class, and one very smart guy. He’s famous in the gaming world for being the artist behind Crash Bandicoot, and is very well respected in the industry.

I gave a very simple talk, and I’m sure many of you could have given it yourselves:

You have to spend time with your people!
You actually have to CARE about your people!
One on Ones are the core of the Management Trinity!
Feedback works, even if you’re scared of doing it!

There were two moments during the GDC event that were special for us. First, there were about 10 Manager Tools members and fans who were in the audience, and it was great having their support. I asked them all to stand, and a couple of them were kind enough to give testimonials…that’s the kind of stuff presenters can’t buy.

Second, a couple of members came up afterwards and offered to do something special for my youngest son, Drake, with whom I often play their games. It was a very sweet moment, to see these folks genuinely wanting to share with my son, because of their association with us. Mike will tell you that as we walked back to our hotel, it was all I could talk about: “Fred, and Chad, and Cary - wasn’t that COOL? Did you see Cary’s jacket? AWESOME!”

To my son Drake, these guys are rock stars, and the fact that we serve people like YOU makes us feel like the luckiest roadies on the planet.

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 7:37 pm and is filed under general.

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