One sentence summary: The Hard Things About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz shares his lifelong experience as a Silicon Valley insider and the management lessons that made him a successful CEO, manager, and founder.
One paragraph summary: Ben Horowitz is a Silicon Valley titan, co-founder, and former CEO of Opsware. He also worked at Netscape and Silicon Graphics and was instrumental in shaping the internet as we know it. His book,Hard Things About Hard Things, talks about his experiences in these roles and places, but while at it, he also shares valuable lessons on managing teams, setting goals, office politics, dealing with crisis, and hiring and firing employees.
“Life is struggle.” I believe that within that quote lies the most important lesson in entrepreneurship: Embrace the struggle”
Ben Horowitz is one of the very few people who can rightly claim they shaped the internet because, without his contributions at companies like Netscape, AOL, Silicon Graphics, and Loundcloud, many of the things that we take for granted like free browsers, would not exist.
I agree. The claim above is debatable but let it not distract us from the fact that Ben has a lot to say about Silicon Valley and businesses in general. After all, he was part of the generation that laid down the brick and mortar for what Bill Gates referred to as ‘information superhighway’ or what we now call the internet.
Ben’s peers were also some of Silicon Valley’s most revered players. One such personal friend was Andrew Grove, the former CEO of Intel and the guy they say “drove the growth phase of Silicon Valley.” Ben even wrote the forward of Hign Output Management, by Grove
The Hard Things About Hard Things is a narration of the life of Ben and his journey as a young computer scientist to becoming one of Silicon Valley’s greatest influencers. Along the way, Ben shares his insight into how businesses operate and what it takes to succeed in trying times.
If you are like me and prefer narrations over being told do 1,2,3... you will love The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben is a master storyteller, and he is not just telling any story; he talks about overcoming the odds in one most brutal and competitive business scenes in modern history. In other words, the book stands out in many ways
The following are the top six lessons that resonated with me from The Hard Things About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz.
The secret behind a great CEO is the ability to maintain focus and make the best move when there are seemingly no good moves
CEOs should tell it like it is
Firing people the right way serves the needs of the company
Take care of the people, the products, and the profits in that order
Companies should train their employees
It is fallacious to evaluate people against the future need of the company
Ben says that it is the moment that we feel like hiding or dying that matters the most to a CEO. It is the same with life. When we face difficulties, our reactions determine how the rest of the world sees us.
Ben offers several pieces of advice to CEOs facing hard times:
Don’t put it all on your shoulders: CEOs may not be able to share all their burdens with others, but they should share the ones they can. Ben advises CEOs to get as many brains working on a problem as possible
It's chess, not checkers: You can never run out of a move, find it, and do something
Play long enough, and you might get lucky: The technology sector moves so fast that if you stay long enough in the industry, you might get lucky and do something that is impossible today
Don’t take it personally: When you make a mistake, don’t be too harsh on yourself, everyone makes mistakes here and there
Starting a company separates women from the girls: Only start a company if you are up to the challenge. This includes the ability to handle tough situations
According to Ben, the following are the characteristics of a great CEO:
The ability to articulate a vision
Having the right kind of ambition
The ability to achieve the vision
Ben says that one of the greatest threats to a company’s welfare is a lack of transparency. When CEOs are not upfront about the issues affecting their business, it breaks trust. And why should CEOs be silent in the first place? Ben implies that it doesn’t make sense to remain tight-lipped because employees are usually aware of the company’s problems long before it goes under. Also, it is important to have as many brains as possible working on a solution when a company is facing a problem, and that cannot happen if the CEO is pretending that nothing is wrong.
Another important point that Ben makes is that CEOs should stop being too optimistic. Yes, it is important to keep employees motivated, but there is no point in giving them false optimism. It is not the job of the CEO to worry about everything. Some of the worries should go to engineers, product designers, and so on as these groups are actually able to fix problems.
Ben says that CEOs must make the tough decision of laying off employees at some point in their careers. If done right, the process can be easy for everyone. Ben offers several tips on how to go about it:
Get your head right: No matter how overwhelming the decision is, focus on the future
Don't delay: The faster you decide to lay off people, the less pain each side will have to endure
Have clarity about why you are laying off people: When giving a reason why the company has to fire people, get straight to the point. Don’t sugarcoat anything
Train your managers: Managers should fire the people working under them. They, too, should explain the reasons
Address the entire company: It is the CEOs job to provide cover for the managers as they fire their peoples
Be visible, be present:CEOs need to be present when the firing is happening. Otherwise, the employees will think that you don’t care Ben also offers tips on how to fire an executive or a loyal friend. When firing an executive, perform a root cause analysis first. Get to the fundamental reason that the executive has to go, inform the board and prepare for the conversation.
When demoting or firing a loyal friend, dissuade them from feeling betrayed or embarrassed by being very clear on why you have to make the decision. Remember to use kind language and, at every chance, acknowledge their contributions.
“Happy employees make great products.”
Ben says that the way to take care of the people is to make your company a great place to work. He warns that as companies grow in size, hardworking employees are often overlooked, and important work goes unnoticed. As the CEO, you must guard against this
The main characteristic of a good place to work is that it values employees and their contributions. Employees should know that wonderful things will happen to the company and to them when they get things done.
On the other hand, poor workplaces are characterized by infighting and broken processes. Such workplaces fail to motivate employees, and as such, poor products are created, and the company fails to meet its goals
Ben provides several reasons why companies should invest in their employees. They include:
Productivity: Any form of training increases employee productivity
Performance management: When employees are trained for the job they perform more confidently as they know what to expect
Product quality: Training is a great way of ensuring product quality
Employee retention: If employees are not learning new things, they can leave for better pastures
Ben also says that apart from training, managers should not give employees tasks that they cannot perform because that’s the equivalent of crippling the army.
Characteristics of a great HR according to Ben Horowitz:
Has world-class process design skills: A good HR is a masterful process designer
A true diplomat: Great HR managers improve employees rather than manage them
Industry knowledge: An outstanding HR knows everything in their industry
Intellectual heft: A great HR should be in a position to advise the CEO
Understanding the unspoken: When things are not well, HR should know and take corrective action
This lesson was the one that resonated the most with me. You would think that the guy that keeps on performing will continue to do so even when the company changes dramatically, but that is not always the case.
Ben also says that you never know how a new employee is going to perform and as such, interviews are not necessarily the best way to judge people. The best interview is to assign someone a job and see how they perform. Clever, don’t you think?
The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz is the book you want to keep around as you grow your business. Ben shares the fundamentals of everything, and I won’t lie, there are more lessons than I shared with you guys, but the following six resonated the most with me:
The secret behind a great CEO is the ability to maintain focus and make the best move when there are seemingly no good moves
CEOs should tell it like it is
Firing people the right way serves the needs of the company
Take care of the people, the products, and the profits in that order
Companies should train their employees
It is fallacious to evaluate people against the future need of the company
The Hard Things About Hard Things is a book for entrepreneurs because Ben doesn’t just provide business lessons; he also talks extensively about what goes into making a great entrepreneur. Business success is as much as having a great personality as it is about knowing what to do.
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