The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz Summary
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My Rating: 5/5
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
Many people talk about how great it is to start a business, but very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. This book is different, Horowitz shares his experience, both good and bad, in running very successful technology companies.
This book is essential reading for anyone who wants a realistic look at what it takes to run a successful business from either the top or mid-level.
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Book Introduction
Are you a business professional looking for insight on how to make the hard decisions required for success?
In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he’s gained from his own experiences in the technology industry. He candidly discusses everything from firing friends to poaching competitors and provides valuable advice on how to cultivate and sustain a CEO mentality.
This book doesn’t pull any punches – it tells it straight about what it takes to be a successful business professional.
If you’re looking for an honest account of what it takes to make it in the world of business, grab a copy of The Hard Thing About Hard Things and dive right in.
Book Summary in 3 Ideas
Idea 1
The Hard Thing About Hard Things provides readers with an in-depth look at the daily challenges that business professionals face. The challenges that most business books present are not the actual hard part of the business.
The hard part is making the best decision among only bad choices, having to promote someone new over your friend, and staying true to the mission of the company when the company is failing.
Idea 2
Whenever something genuinely innovative is created, it requires the best teams and talent. Unfortunately, one of the most challenging parts of building a successful business is finding the best people to help achieve the goal.
Idea 3
The struggle doesn’t end. When doing something extraordinary, like building a business, the emotions will bounce from extreme fulfillment to despair.
However, it is the pushing of boundaries and the creation of something new that causes both of those feelings. The best course of action is to accept this truth and hang on for the ride.
PS: The creator of Nike, Phil Knight, also talks about this in his memoir Shoe Dog.
My Key Insights
Key Insight One
The challenges that business professionals face every day are many and varied.
It can be easy to get sucked in and try to solve every problem. However, this is a fast track to failure.
We must keep our actions and attention aligned with the company’s big goals, or we will be beaten by another company that is aligned. The job of the CEO is to figure out what that goal is and then to keep the entire organization aligned to that goal.
Key Insight Two
The difficulty in leadership and building a business (and a life) comes from making decisions when there is no “correct” answer.
The easy answers are easy. However, the hard choices keep us up late at night, wondering if we are making the right choice. Because of this, we can be more prone to delay making a decision, which is the wrong thing to do.
Instead, we must be willing to make a decision quickly and learn from them.
Key Insight Three
Some people are wired to build and lead.
Entrepreneurs and people like Ben Howoritz, Alex Hormozi, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Grant Cardone have no choice.
It does not matter how stressful the job is; the act of creation brings them fulfillment, and they will always find themselves living an entrepreneurial life.
Top 3 quotes by Ben Horowitz
Quote 1
“Every time I read a management or self-help book, I find myself saying, “That’s fine, but that wasn’t really the hard thing about the situation.” The hard thing isn’t setting a big, hairy, audacious goal. The hard thing is laying people off when you miss the big goal. The hard thing isn’t hiring great people. The hard thing is when those “great people” develop a sense of entitlement and start demanding unreasonable things. The hard thing isn’t setting up an organizational chart. The hard thing is getting people to communicate within the organization that you just designed. The hard thing isn’t dreaming big. The hard thing is waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat when the dream turns into a nightmare.”
Quote 2
“Early in my career as an engineer, I’d learned that all decisions were objective until the first line of code was written. After that, all decisions were emotional.”
Quote 3
“Sometimes an organization doesn’t need a solution; it just needs clarity.”
What I should implement in my life
Implement 1
Surround myself with more people that promote growth in the direction I want to go (both personally and professionally).
For example, as a company grows, it can outgrow its employees, regardless of how great they are. Sometimes, an individual’s knowledge, mindset, and complete skillset aren’t enough for the desired company’s growth (particularly when a business goes from a small to a big company). Because of this (the Peter Principle), it is a requirement of the CEO/senior executives to make sure they are hiring people (or training people) for the job at hand and not the job five years ago or five years from now.
This same thing happens personally, sometimes the people you spend your time with were great five years ago (and maybe great five years from now) but today they are not fulfilling everything that you need.
That doesn’t mean we need to get rid of them, it just means we need to search out the type of people that will help us grow in the direction we want.
Implement 2
Don’t feel bad for being ambitious.
Instead, I need to surround myself with people who push me to be better and be less around upset people who hold me back because they have different levels of ambition.
One of the best things for achievement is creating a company culture that embraces growth (both trial and error) and does not let a single failure prevent future progress. Likewise one of the best ways for personal development is to be around groups of people who are already doing what we want to do.
Implement 3
Understand what people around me believe and why.
I can have more impactful relationships and conversations by better understanding what kind of truths people are telling me.
If I know what emotion their truth is based on I can understand why people say what they say, what motivates them, and what limiting beliefs they have.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for an honest, no-nonsense book on business, then The Hard Thing About Hard Things is a great choice.
Ben Horowitz doesn’t shy away from the difficult daily problems that leaders face and shares his insights from years of experience in the technology industry.
Whether you’re just starting out in business or a seasoned professional, this book will give you a lot to think about. If you want to learn more about what it takes to be successful, don’t miss The Hard Thing About Hard Things.
