Want to learn the ideas in The Hard Thing About Hard Things better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz here.
Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.
Video Summaries of The Hard Thing About Hard Things
We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on The Hard Thing About Hard Things, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Ben Horowitz.
1-Page Summary of The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Overview
This book is about how to predict the future and take action so that your startup will be a success. The author uses his own personal experiences to illustrate key points in the book.
It’s difficult to be a CEO. CEOs are responsible for the fate of their companies and have to make crucial decisions every day. They need to fire employees, which can lead to bad feelings; therefore, it is important not to let emotions get in the way when making these types of decisions. It is also beneficial for CEOs to hire people with weaknesses because they will bring unique skills that other employees may lack.
Finally, you’ll find out what it takes to be a wartime CEO.
Big Idea #1: Every CEO must deal with pressures and responsibilities while leading a company.
Everyone who runs a company has dreams. They dream of building something beautiful and world-changing while having fun and making a lot of money. A crisis is inevitable when running a business, because there are too many variables to make things go smoothly.
Every company is somewhat at the mercy of “macro” issues like financial crises and collapses. These can scare away investors as well as cause businesses to fail in other ways. In contrast, smaller “micro” issues such as making a wrong hiring decision or having your best customer go bankrupt also affect companies in different ways.
All CEOs face The Struggle, which occurs when dreams of success meet reality. It is a struggle that comes with being in charge of a company and consists of the stress and impossible decisions that arise from it. The CEO gets credit for the company’s successes or is fired for its failures.
Big Idea #2: Life can be difficult, but it’s easier when you work together. You can overcome any problem if you’re creative and don’t give up.
All CEOs must face challenges. There are a few ways to deal with them, including:
As the CEO, you will be the most affected by The Struggle. You should not bear it alone and instead involve as many people as possible when facing a crisis.
An example of how this helps was seen in the way the author’s company, Opsware, dealt with a crisis caused by the dot-com crash. As CEO, he assembled his entire team and told them honestly that unless they could completely overhaul their product they would go out of business.
He said that the company was still salvageable, but everyone who was thinking about quitting should do so now. This meant that the people who remained were extremely determined to ship their new product and thus saved it from going bankrupt. The second thing we can learn is when you feel like you’re trapped on all sides and things are looking grim, get creative as a means of survival.
For example, the author’s company Loudcloud was behind its revenue target of $75 million. Investors were reluctant to fund it further, so he got creative and did something unexpected: He took the company public and raised funds that way.
Furthermore, you must be aware that dealing with your own psychology is the hardest thing a CEO will ever have to do. It’s a lonely and challenging job. However, if you learn from racecar drivers by focusing on what lies ahead and not getting distracted by potential hazards or track walls, then you too can overcome this challenge.
Big Idea #3: Honesty is the best policy. It helps you solve problems and bad news quicker than if you try to hide it.
No one likes delivering bad news, but when you’re the CEO of a company and your business is dealing with challenges, it’s important to discuss them openly and directly.
Why do companies try to keep bad news secret? They shouldn’t because it spreads quickly anyway. On the contrary, revealing problems early can help you fix them before they become a big problem.
