A manager can't act like a role model. They need to BE a role model. Ben Horowitz More Quotes by Ben Horowitz More Quotes From Ben Horowitz As companies move to web-based computing they get a lot more servers, which are difficult to manage and control. All kinds of problems can arise - security, quality and worms. Ben Horowitz quality kind moving It turns out that is exactly what product strategy is all about—figuring out the right product is the innovator’s job, not the customer’s job. Ben Horowitz strategy turns jobs Nothing motivates a great employee more than a mission that's so important that it supersedes everyone's personal ambition. Ben Horowitz missions important ambition Relationships built from a business do better than the reverse. Ben Horowitz reverse built A key thing in being a leader is you’ve got to pause yourself. Ben Horowitz keys leader management Note to self: It’s a good idea to ask, “What am I not doing? Ben Horowitz notes self ideas It's hard in daily life. It's even harder in management because it's the stress of the moment. Ben Horowitz daily-life stress management You can take somebody's job, you have to take their job, but you don't have to take their dignity. Ben Horowitz dignity management jobs 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. Ben Horowitz emotional careers decision I don’t believe in statistics. I believe in calculus. Ben Horowitz calculus statistics believe Over the last ten years, technological advances have dramatically lowered the financial bar for starting a new company, but the courage bar for building a great company remains as high as it has ever been. Ben Horowitz bars lasts years The thing that's confusing for investors is that founders don't know how to be CEO. I didn't know how to do the job when I was a CEO. Founder CEOs don't know how to be CEOs, but it doesn't mean they can't learn. The question is... can the founder learn that job and can they tolerate all mistakes they will make doing it? Ben Horowitz mistake jobs mean In life, you don't have a level of confrontation and the nonsense you run into when you're a CEO. CEOs aren't born. Ben Horowitz nonsense levels running To succeed at selling a losing product, you must develop seriously superior sales techniques. In addition, you have to be massively competitive and incredibly hungry to survive in that environment. Ben Horowitz succeed technique losing The trouble with innovation is that truly innovative ideas often look like bad ideas at the time. Ben Horowitz innovation looks ideas What do you get when you cross a herd of sheep with a herd of lemmings? A herd of venture capitalists. Ben Horowitz lemmings venture sheep Every time you make the hard, correct decision you become a bit more courageous, and every time you make the easy, wrong decision you become a bit more cowardly. If you are CEO, these choices will lead to a courageous or cowardly company. Ben Horowitz courageous choices decision Don't punk out and don't quit. Ben Horowitz quitting motivational inspirational How do you make your company a good place to work in general? That's a really really really large and complex set of skills. A lot of it is on the job training, combined with excellent mentorship. Ben Horowitz training skills jobs For example, the vast majority of security break-ins occur as a result of problems with known fixes. With an automated system, you can keep up to date. Ben Horowitz majority problem example
