The day I met Rob was one of the best days of my career. It was my first day working at Blizzard, and I was totally in the dark about what the game I was going to be working on, other than it was the "Next-Gen MMO" project. So imagine the excitement of going to work at Blizzard, plus the anticipation of finding out what this mystery project is that you didn't even find out about during your interviews.

So on the first day, the other programmer starting that day and I sit down with Rob Pardo and he starts pitching the game to us — laying out the vision, the origins and the goals for what we were building, with considerable enthusiasm and imagination. Surely, this was the same pitch that convinced the heads of the studio to approve the project. It was tremendous. I wanted to get to my desk and start working right away so I could bring this vision closer to reality.

In contrast, at most places I've worked before and since, I showed up and found out about the project I was working on by way of some random demo, reading outdated documents or a process of detective work. Having a reveal and actual presentation as part of a threshold event like the first day on the team was really powerful. I felt like I was carrying the fire now. The inspiration from that first day provided us a full tank of gas and directions for the long journey we were going on.

Everyone talks about how crucial it is to hire well, but then we only grudgingly find time for interviews. In the same way, even though we know inspirational leadership is essential for creative work, it's not easy to plan to meet that need in each team member's experience. Even though it's far less in-depth than, say, the multi-week process at Facebook, that one presentation Rob did on my first day at Blizzard meant a huge amount to me, and I'll never forget it.