Note to self: It’s a good idea to ask, “What am I not doing? Ben Horowitz More Quotes by Ben Horowitz More Quotes From Ben Horowitz Your employees know each other better than they know you. Ben Horowitz employeemanagementknows The person they're working with, is going to be the person they'll know more. So if that person leaves, they're going to go - well, should have I left too? What did they get and how does that compare to my deal. Ben Horowitz managementshould-havedoe Volatility and length, that's the value on an option. 10 years on a startup stock, that's a big valuable thing. Ben Horowitz lengthmanagementyears The most important thing you can learn as CEO- one of the hardest things to do is, you have to discipline yourself to see your company... through the eyes of the people that you're working through. Through the eyes of the employees, through the eyes of your partners... through the eyes of the people who you're not talking to and who are not in the room. Ben Horowitz disciplineeyetalking Generally the reason they fail in the job is, you made some mistake in the hiring process in that you didn't match... them to the needs of your company accurately enough. That's the #1 reason this fails. And that's generally a good place to start: Here's where we are and here's what I didn't recognize about us and about you when I made the decision, and now it is what it is. Ben Horowitz decisionmistakejobs Most large mistakes in organizational design come from putting the individual ambitions of the people at the top of the organization ahead of the communication paths for the people at the bottom of the organization. Ben Horowitz communicationambitionmistake Sometimes an organization doesn’t need a solution; it just needs clarity. Ben Horowitz clarityorganizationneeds Wartime CEO is too busy fighting the enemy to read management books written by consultants who have never managed a fruit stand. Ben Horowitz fightingbookenemy Planning is valuable, tho the plan is usually useless. Ben Horowitz valuableplanninguseless Until you make the effort to get to know someone or something, you don’t know anything. Ben Horowitz effortknows Yeah, I became a successful entrepreneur... Eventually Ben Horowitz entrepreneuryeahsuccessful It's quite possible for an executive to hit her goal for the quarter by ignoring the future. Ben Horowitz executivesquartersgoal There is no silver bullet. There are always options and the options have consequences. Ben Horowitz silver-bulletssilverbullets If you have never done the job, how do you know what to want? Ben Horowitz donewantjobs It's pretty clear that [customers] know what their budgets are now, and what they want to spend it on. Ben Horowitz clearcustomerswant The bigger you get, the harder this gets because the more aggressive the people working for you are. Ben Horowitz biggermanagementpeople The right answer on raises is you have to be formal. You have to be formal to save your own culture. Ben Horowitz managementanswersculture When raising money, you want to look through the lens of 'What happens when things go wrong?' Ben Horowitz lenseswantlooks The key to high-quality communication is trust, and its hard to trust somebody that you dont know. Ben Horowitz qualitycommunicationkeys A CEO needs great intelligence and great courage. And I always found my courage was tested more. Ben Horowitz entrepreneurfoundneeds
