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I'm all for leadership by example. I think that Joel led by example when he was still actively developing code.

Hanging blinds? Not so much. Hanging blinds strikes me more as an entertaining diversion from normal work than as a way to show leadership.

I enjoy Joel's writing and think he sounds like a good guy. I'd be curious to see what he did if some of his employees left Fog Creek to start a company. The reaction would be a good measure of leadership.

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I think the right way to handle that crisis would be to support them in their decision, but make sure they aren't directly competing with Fog Creek. Maintain contact, and make a gentleman's agreement that they won't poach people from Fog Creek. Keeping things friendly would be far more beneficial in the long run.

A lot depends on how many people would be leaving, too. If it's 2 or 3 people, it's not a huge deal, but if it's half the company, and if they are going to be making bug-tracking software, I think they might have to try to take a harder line.

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