I was taking acting lessons around the time I got involved with this startup. I would recommend them - such things would be very useful for the stereotypical I

I was taking acting lessons around the time I got involved with this startup. I would recommend them - such things would be very useful for the stereotypical IT person. Essentially, you (at least I did) start to get a conscious, thought oriented / theoretical understanding of people and their behavior - and how to link that to a better understanding of their 'character' and conscious/unconscious drives, etc. Self-obsessed, neurotic introvert me never got socialized properly in high school.. All very nebulous, I know, but part of acting is learning to listen to your intuition or impulses and not immediately discount them or ignore them (something left brained me is very prone to doing) I could tell something was wrong with this 'founder' but I rationalized as 'anal-retentive'. Then I got sucked into my OCDness, and stopped taking acting classes while trying to get this startup running. 4 years of hell later, I finally realized I was dealing with a full blown psychopath (i.e. failed to do any background checks on the guy in my rush of enthusiasm at the start of any project). The guy who introduced me to him finally decided to tell me some stories... Just an example of the hazards of not listening to one's gut. The books about acting tend to be "flaky", from an engineer's point of view, but once you understand the concepts they are trying to explain and the lingo, it is useful.