The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Book Summary
Ben Horowitz is the cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z) and one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and experienced entrepreneurs. In his book ‘The Hard Thing about Hard Things’ he narrates his experiences being a CEO and the hard decisions he has had to make. The book offers essential advice on managing the toughest problems as a leader, problems which business schools do not cover.
Ben begins the book by stating that every time he reads a self-help or management book it does not address the truly hard things, like laying people off or having good people demand unreasonable things. While most management books focus on how to do things correctly so that you don’t screw up, Ben’s book offers
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He understood that figuring out the right product is the innovator’s job, not the customer’s and after the first line of code is written, decisions are no longer objective in the technology business. .
Chapter 4: When Things Fall Apart
When the odds of LoudCloud’s survival were low, Ben’s friend and LoudCloud board member, Bill Campbell advised him to prepare for bankruptcy, but he never made such a contingency plan. He believed that CEOs should not play the odds. When you are building a company, you must believe there is an answer, and you cannot pay attention to the odds of finding it. You just have to find it. It matters not whether your chances are nine in ten or one in a thousand; the task is the same.
There is no secret to being a successful CEO he states; however, the ability to focus and make the best move when there seems to be no good moves is crucial. When things get unbearably difficult, and the struggle begins, there are a few things you can try.
First, do not put it all on only your shoulders. You should share every burden that you can with the maximum number of
“Facing It”, a poem by Yusef Komunyakaa, is found in Dien Cai Dau, which was published in 1988. Komunyakaa was born and raised in Bogalusa, La. Being that I am from Bogalusa, I had the instant draw to this poem by this poet. The second reason I chose this poem was because of the ample research I found on this poem and the poet.
There are instances in the work where there are questions asked, and either Michael or Bonnie responds. This allows the reader a clear understanding of Michael and Bonnie’s struggles, as well as their vision for their brand. Michael and Bonnie struggled, just as so many other countless entrepreneurs. Throughout the work, there are many pieces of advice given by Bonnie and Michael. Many of these pieces of advice, or “practical nuggets” can be of use to entrepreneurs across all different types of industries.
Introduction Jane L. David and Larry Cuban do a great job of informing the reader of issues involving closing the achievement gap in education in their book, “Cutting Through the Hype”. David and Cuban, friends and colleagues for forty-five years, collaborated yet again to revise “Cutting Through the Hype” to re-address the “far more pronounced” effects of the federal role and the philanthropic foundations in funding and setting the policy agenda for reforming U.S. schools. Chapter three, Closing the Achievement Gap, begins with a realistic scenario of a fifth grade classroom of thirty students that range from six non English speaking students, limited English speaking students, and fluent English speaking, high performing students. The
In the poem Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa, I had a strong connection to the idea of not being seen or understood. No matter who the individual is, I can almost guarantee there has been a moment where they've felt unseen. I found this is an emotion quite vividly shared throughout the poem. Personally, I felt the poem shares this emotional story allowing readers like myself to connect even though we might not have the exact same experiences. I feel this is also conveyed in the mood of the poem.
At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle L. McGuire, does not sound at first like a book that would provide ample information about the role of the Ku Klux Klan in the Civil Rights Era, but through the various cases and demonstrations presented by McGuire, the reader is given insight into the Ku Klux Klan that has yet to presented by another author read for this study. In her book, McGuire analyzes various court cases and movements from the early 20th century into the 1970s to show the growth of the civil rights movement through black women's resistance. She focuses on the particular women involved and the role that respectability
In the book “Bad Boy”, Chapter 1 talks about Walter and where he was born. Right after Walter was born his mother passed away. His father George Myers got married with another woman named Florence Dean. She later got in a divorce and married a man named Herbert Dean. His step father Hebert worked for a gangster that owned a moving company named Dutch Schultz.
Danielle L. McGuire’s At the Dark End of the Street, “an important, original contribution to civil rights historiography”, discusses the topic of rape and sexual assault towards African American women, and how this played a major role in causing the civil rights movement (Dailey 491). Chapter by chapter, another person's story is told, from the rape of Recy Taylor to the court case of Joan Little, while including the significance of Rosa Parks and various organizations in fighting for the victims of unjust brutality. The sole purpose of creating this novel was to discuss a topic no other historian has discussed before, because according to McGuire they have all been skipping over a topic that would change the view of the civil rights movement.
It is generally known that being a business executive not only takes a tremendous amount of exertion, but
In chapter 5 of Bad Boy, Walter talks about baseball, meeting his dad and his brothers. In the summer of 1947 Walter was excited that they let Jackie Robinson and Larry Dobby into Major League Baseball. Walter would gather all of his neighborhood friends to watch baseball with him. Soon Walter’s biological father moved to Harlem, because his wife had family there. Walter never considered his biological father his dad because he never acted like it.
In the poem, “Becoming and Going: An Oldsmobile Story” by Gerald Hill the speaker is traveling down a road in the Fort Qu’appelle Valley. He notices his father and his son are also driving down this road. The speaker then begins to list the two men’s characteristics. As he lists them we see that the father and the son have both similarities and differences in their personalities.
Notwithstanding their different targets to achieve success, they all must learn ways to fulfill their goals. Thesis statement There are a lot of ways to knock the door of success,
The reading “The Human Side of Enterprise” written by Douglas Murray McGregor analyzes the importance of considering human organizations in the management of organizations. More importantly, the author described the theory of “X” and “Y”. The theory of “Y” provided better results when considering the visions of clear expectations about the assumptions of human nature. Additionally, this theory allowed for the development of organizational goals in the management which allows administrators to advocate for participation to voice their opinions. On the other hand theory of “X” is more directed towards the authoritarian forms of management in which the managers are worried about the proper performance of individuals and control of the organization.
The success of Bill Gates depends not only on his effort, but also
IMPACTS OF ECONOMIC FACTORS ON STARBUCKS The ongoing global economic recession is the prime external economic driver for Starbucks. As I already mentioned, this factor dented the profitability of Starbucks. This has convinced buyers to shift to cheaper alternatives. As they did not quit buying coffee, Starbucks should seek an opportunity here. The company has to deal with rising labor and operational costs.
As we all know, the way to success is full of obstacles and difficulties, and you need to try your best to handle these problems and persist achieving final goals. There are many examples such as Thomas Edison, one of the greatest scientists in the world, spent several decades inventing the battery. Though he failed so many times, he never gave up but persisted testing for thousands of times, and finally he succeeded in inventing the battery. However, if he gave up when he faced problems, we cannot enjoy the benefits of the battery as so early. What makes him a giant in the invention field is that his