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Common themes of leaders who sustain excellence:
- "For me it's falling in love with the work itself..."
- Being excited to do the actual work everyday... The actual day to day work
"I don't have a need to think "What's Next?" -- "I'm thrilled to do the thing I've fallen in love with."
How did he become DHH?
What percentage of your job do you love and what percent do you dislike?
- DHH works to minimize the parts he doesn't like
- Managing others is low on his list of what he loves.
"The thought that you can't be innovative if you aren't in the same room is bullshit." -- You can do that remotely, in fact better in most cases.
DHH shares why the open office concept is horrible for creative people who like to "get shit done."
Remote work gives peace, tranquility, quality
Commuting to work can be a wasteful, drain on your life
The future of work -- More remote work, more contractors, less full time employees
"The office is something you choose to have, you don't need to have it."
"The Day I Became A Millionaire"
- What DHH learned that day... What changed? What didn't
- "The things that brought happiness were the things I was already doing. I love writing, programming, reading."
- Will a certain amount of money ever be enough? Ray Kroc said "No."
"The human condition does not end because you get rich." You'll still have problems.
Best advice to give to people early in their careers?
- "Be careful what you wish for. Managing other people is not in my top 5 things I like to do."
- "Prove you can execute. That's the way to get to the executive level. Just simply make shit happen, you get shit done."
- You have to weigh shipping vs quality
- Take measured risks, and don't be afraid to make mistakes

David "DHH" Heinemeier Hansson is the creator of Ruby on Rails, founder & CTO at Basecamp(formerly 37signals), best-selling author, Le Mans class-winning racing driver, public speaker, hobbyist photographer, and family man. He is the best selling author of ReWork and Remote: Office Note Required. You can also read his wildly popular writings on Medium.com/@dhh

Expression: By the skin of your teeth