“Peace to all those engaged in the struggle to fulfill their dreams” – Ben Horowitz.

The Hard Thing About the Hard Things – By Ben Horowitz

Ben Horowitz’s THE HARD THING ABOUT THE HARD THINGS is a business/entrepreneurship/leadership book that recounts Horowitz’s ups and downs when starting his own business, with a particular higher focus on the lows. Different from many other leadership books that I have read, Horowitz does not intend to use the “you can do it!” cliché. Instead, he tells it as it is and encourages the reader to be aware that the process of creating a business from scratch is not an easy one, it is a lonely and difficult process that at the end, will certainly bring some satisfaction.

The three main lessons I took with me from THE HARD THING ABOUT THE HARD THINGS are: 1. Enter the path to pursuit our dreams with enthusiasm, but conscious that many walls should be knocked down before we can say “I made it”. In Horowitz own words: “Embrace the struggle”. 2. Do not be afraid to receive bad news about our business. If as managers we are not aware of the flaws, we will never improve. The same thing goes for employees: Do not be afraid to deliver bad news to your company’s leadership, as letting them know what is wrong will only help the company get better. 3. The greatest asset we can invest in is people. And this goes not only for business, but for our personal lives too.

Final thought: I am still surprised about the fact that the first sentence I ran into when I started reading this book, was the lyrics of a rap song from Kanye West.

Has anyone read this book? Let me know how you liked it!