On Management, Investing, and Business
Ben Horowitz‘s perspective on management is one of my favorites on the subject. There are numerous materials about management that present the leadership of an organization as a sort of science, “…here’s what you do, and that’s what you get…“, but, much like a battlefield, this is hardly the way it plays in real life 人算不如天算. With Ben’s notion on separating ‘peacetime leadership’ from ‘wartime leadership’, you get a clearer picture of the complexities involved when running a business and handling their self at the same time. There aren’t any easy answers, but developing a better understanding of the ever fluid dynamic, which characterizes most business environments, will help summon some courage and a better mindset on approaching the adventure.
Today, I’m sharing this impressive and pretty diverse article on ‘12 Things I Learned from Ben Horowitz about Management, Investing, and Business‘ by Tren Griffen. Enjoy.
You read these management books that say ‘these are the hard things about running a company’. But those aren’t really the hard things.”
“My old boss Jim Barksdale said that most management consultants have never managed a hot dog stand.”
“Wartime CEO is too busy fighting the enemy to read management books written by consultants who have never managed a fruit stand.”
“When I was a CEO, the books on management that I read weren’t very much help after the first few months on the job. They were all designed to give you directions on how not to screw up your company. But it doesn’t take long before you get beyond that and you’re like OK I’ve screwed up my company; now what do I do? Most books on management are written by management consultants, and they study successful companies after they’ve succeeded, so they only hear winning stories… continue reading »