By far the most difficult skill I learned as a C.E.O. was the ability to manage my own psychology. Organizational design, process design, metrics, hiring and firing were all relatively straightforward skills to master compared with keeping my mind in check. Ben Horowitz abilitycheckcompare share on social
As a company gets big, the information that informs decision-making gets massive. Depending upon the prism through which you view the business, your perspective will vary. If two people are in charge, this variance will cause conflict and delay. Ben Horowitz bigbusinesscharge share on social
In my own experience as a C.E.O., I would find myself laying awake at 3 A.M. asking questions about my business, and there weren't management books out there that could help me. Ben Horowitz awakebookbusiness Change image and share on social
I think when companies are struggling, they don't want to talk to the press. The guys who write business books aren't interested in it because nobody wants to learn what it's like to be a mess, you want to learn how to be successful. That's slanted the whole thing quite a bit. Ben Horowitz bitebookbusiness share on social
In a company, hundreds of decisions get made, but objectives and goals are thin. Ben Horowitz companydecisiongoal Change image and share on social
If the employees fundamentally trust the C.E.O., then communications will be vastly more efficient than if they don't. Telling things as they are is a critical part of building this trust. Ben Horowitz buildcommunicationcritical Change image and share on social
The laws of business physics have been broken in terms of how many customers you can acquire and how fast. No one in history has ever acquired 450 million customers in the same amount of time that WhatsApp did. Ben Horowitz acquireamountbreak share on social
I try to help people with management stuff a lot. Ben Horowitz lotmanagementpeople Change image and share on social
People say the most important thing is building a world-class team. Ben Horowitz buildclassimportant Change image and share on social
One of the things I say to people is: Imagine if we succeeded. Ben Horowitz imaginepeoplesucceed Change image and share on social
