Book 1 - The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Book 1 of my 2024 reading challenge complete by day 8 of the year. I’m on a roll!

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers is a business and management book by Ben Horowitz, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz and founder / CEO of Opsware.

What I really enjoyed is the honesty and vulnerability Ben shows in discussing the personally challenging, lonely and isolating aspects of founding a company and the role of a CEO.

This is a book from a been there done that perspective. It’s not a book of theory or a book of what should be done. It’s a book of what was done and what worked and what didn’t.

The 'lessons' are punchy, succinct and backed up with real examples of the situations and experience that formed them, whilst telling the story of Ben and Opsware's journey in a way which draws you in and keeps you engaged.

The running theme of the book is that there are no easy answers, no silver bullets, no magic formulas. The hard thing about hard things is that there is no formula for dealing with them. The only way to get through them is to get through them.

I'd put this book on the must read list for any company founder, CEO or anyone leading or aspiring to lead teams to deliver complex projects in competitive environments.

My rating: 4/5