MBA890 Must Read: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

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Hello, welcome to the $100 NBA show, the business podcast that's always got your back with practical business lessons. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the Hundred Dollar MBA and webinar Ninja and today's Episode is a must Read episode. It's been a while since I've done a must read episode. I had to bring it back especially for today's Must Read book in our Must Read Episodes. If you're not familiar, I share with you a book that I have read that has greatly influenced me as an entrepreneur. I share with you some of its takeaways, its insights and why you should read it too. And today's Must Read is the Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. And you can call Ben one of the founding fathers of modern day entrepreneurship. No, he's not that old, but he has been involved in some of the most pivotal pieces of entrepreneurship as well as tech in today's industry. You know the web browser that we use to surf the web? Well, he worked on one of the first ones, one of the most successful ones in Netscape. Heard of cloud computing? He started it. This company, Loudcloud, was the fastest growing company of its time. His companies got so big they got acquired by giants like Hewlett Packard and aol. But the reason why this book is so great is that it's not sugarcoated at all. He gives you the raw truth about how hard it is to create a business, but it's not all doom and gloomy. Actually shows you how to deal with hard things in business. Most business books talk about how to avoid problems or avoid calamities. This book talks about what do you do when they do happen, when you do have problems, when you feel like you have no options. What do you do when things get hard. This is why I love this book so much. Because it's so different. It's so real, it's so raw. It's one of those books that really hit you home. I can't wait to share with you some of its key takeaways. How to make the best moves when there no moves to make. How not to be trapped in being too positive as a CEO. Yes, that's actually something you need to be concerned about. How to take care of your own people in your business so your product and sales take care of itself. And one of my favorites, how to balance being a peacetime CEO and a wartime CEO. I'll talk more about that in today's episode. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. The hard thing about Hard Things is the kind of book that you'd read in a single go. It's really hard to put down. I actually listened to this book via Audible and I have to highly recommend the narrator, fantastic voiceover actor. And I was listening to this book when we were doing our Working while Traveling experiment that eight week journey and I found it very hard to put down. Every time I was on a flight or anytime I was doing any kind of commuting, I was listening to a couple chapters. I'm actually going through the book again now because I've enjoyed it so much and got so much out of it. You find yourself reflecting after every chapter, thinking about it, absorbing what you just read. Yes, it's that good. In fact, I have to say this book is going to creep into my top five books. I recommend. The book is packed with lessons on how to make it through the struggle of business, how to not quit, and how to not get sick in the process. Again, it's not about how not to screw up, but it's about what to do after you screw up, which you inevitably will. You will make mistakes as an entrepreneur. That's just how it is. So you might as well know what to do when it does happen. All right, I have some key takeaways I want to share with you from this book. There's so many, but these are the ones that really I want to share with you. The rest you're going to have to dig into the book yourself. Takeaway number one. You make your best moves when there are no moves. There's one skill that stands out at being a successful entrepreneur, and this is what I've learned from this book, and that's the ability to focus and make the best move when there are no moves, when you feel trapped, it's the moments when you feel like you want to hide, when you want to just crawl up into some cave and die. Those moves, those decisions, make the biggest difference. Difference. As a CEO, your customers will appreciate you for those decisions. Your team will respect you for those decisions, and it'll probably be the best decision you'll make throughout the lifespan of the business. I personally experienced this recently in the process of creating our next update for webinar, Ninja 5.0, which is a major new release, completely revamped, completely redone. A lot of work. The release date had to be pushed back because things were not perfect, things were not where they should be, things weren't working the way they should. And I want to make sure that we release a software that is great, that is going to make you look great on a webinar. Now, I don't want to release something that is just not what it should be. I owe the customers that much. So I had to email all our current users as well as people on the waiting list waiting to become a 5.0 user. And I shot a video just telling them the truth. Hey, I have to delay this release. I'm really sorry. This really is a tough message for me. This is a tough day. But I was out of moves. I tried everything to make the deadline. I've worked my team to the bone. I've hired extra help and extra developers, but if anybody's in tech, they know that it takes time for a developer to even just get used to your system, your. Your infrastructure, your stack, as they call it, all the different programming languages. So just onboarding somebody new takes weeks, maybe not weeks, but it takes some time. And then they got to get their hands dirty and work, and it takes time to do that. So I've tried everything. And I got to the point where it's like, okay, I just can't release it. I have to bear the. The burden of giving bad news. And I did that instead of trying to Push out the software when it wasn't ready. It was so hard. Didn't want to do it. But now that it's done, it's the best move that I could have done because I got tons of emails from our current customers, our users, saying, thank you for doing the right thing. We are rooting for you and we can't wait to see the new software when it's ready. So takeaway number one, your best move is when you have no moves left and you have to just do the hard thing. Takeaway number two, this was something that I really resonated with because I felt, man, I do this to myself too much. And that's, don't put it all on your shoulders. Don't put all the pressure on you. You won't be able to share the burden of the business and the challenges you have with business, but share that burden with everybody in the business. So if sales are low, you need to share that with the people in your business. Guys, sales are low. We need to do everything we can. People don't like being in the dark. Let them know what's happening in good and bad. In my case, when I had to delay the release, I had to communicate that with our team. Hey, guys, we are behind. I have to disappoint my customers now and let them know, I know it's not anybody's fault in particular, but we need to pull together. They need to feel the same pain that you're feeling. They need to feel the same pressure. You're feeling that burden because you might be saying, man, why isn't this finished? Why aren't they working as hard as me? Or maybe, maybe they don't see what you're seeing because you're not sharing with them. Now, I'm sure everybody's working hard, but there's a different level of intensity when people know what's on the line. And it's your job as a CEO to tell them, to share that with them, share the burden with them. Takeaway number three, stop being too positive. I love this. CEOs should tell it like it is. I'm a positive person. I try to stay positive as possible. But it's really important for you to also not sugarcoat things, to tell people when there is a problem, when things are not doing well. So share the problems with the people that can help you fix it in your business, but also the people who are personally motivated and excited to help you solve this problem. This reminds me of a story of Elon Musk and Tesla, where the Model S was being delayed another year. They were low on funds and they just couldn't work as fast as they need to to get to their deadline. Now they were worried that people that had made reservations for the Model S will back out on the reservation, making the problem even bigger. Not only is it delayed, but they're going to lose their customers that have put down reservations. So he got everybody in the company get on the phone and talk to all these people that have reserved Model S's and convince them to hold onto the reservations. It wasn't in their job description. They were in different department. But he didn't sugarcoat things. He said, hey, this is the reality. If we don't make sure we don't lose these reservations, we're gonna be in trouble. I need your help. Everybody was motivated to help because it's in their interest they wanna keep their job. They wanna keep working for Tesla, they wanna keep doing great things at Tesla. All right, takeaway number four. Stop looking for the silver bullet. Now, I do this sometimes in hindsight, I say if this one thing went right, if this one thing didn't fall through, then all these other problems wouldn't exist. But it did happen. And it's your job to roll with the punches. That's what makes you the CEO. That's what makes you the leader. That's what makes you an entrepreneur. Solving problems. There comes a time in every company's life where they must fight for its life to survive. One thing is not going to solve all your problems. It's the daily grind. It's the daily fighting for the existence of your business. There comes a time in every company's life where they must fight for their life. It's not one thing that's going to solve all your problems. It's the daily grind of working on your business every single day. And if you feel like running and you don't feel like fighting anymore, then you need to ask yourself, does your company to exist at all? That's a good sign to pack it in, sell your company or move on. But if you feel like keep going and fighting, then understand that is what makes a great business. It's not one great idea, it's not one great hire. It's not one great invention. It's a little things that matter. The small conversations you have with your team. It's all the little hires you make every single time you hire somebody on a team. And by the way, when you hire somebody on your team, that's just part of the process. It's not the Hire itself. Not everybody that you hire is going to stay in your business. They're not going to work out. Some of them are not going to work out. They're not going to be good enough. They're going to have flaws, they're not going to be a good culture match. And you're going to have to let them go or they're going to leave. So it's not the actual hires, it's the actual hiring. It's the process of hiring and finding the best talent as much as you can so you can have a great pool, a great community around you to build a great business, a great team of people around you. So it's not one thing. There's no silver bullet. Stop looking for it. And there wasn't one in hindsight. So just talk to myself here. Takeaway number five. Nobody cares when things go wrong in your company. Nobody cares. The media doesn't care. Your investors don't care. The board, if you have one, doesn't care. Your employees don't care. Even some of your closest friends and family don't care. They have their own problems. They have their own life. And they have the right not to care. You know, a great reason for why you failed won't preserve $1 for your investors. It won't save one employee's job or get you one new customer. All that mental energy used to talk about how bad it is for you and how you're in misery is far better used trying to find a solution to your mess. Nobody cares about how bad it is or how hard it is or how hard you're working. Just run your company. Focus on solutions. Focus on how you can make things better. Everybody got their own problem. Everybody's got their own issues. Everybody has their own responsibilities. This is your responsibility. Take ownership.

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Alright, takeaway number six from the Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Take care of people. The products and the profits, in that order. Taking care of people is the most difficult part of the equation by far. And if you don't do it, the other two won't matter. Taking care of people means the people in your company making sure you have a good workplace, even if that workplace is virtual. Make sure they feel supported and encouraged, but also pushed and challenged. If your company's a good place to work, then you too will enjoy it and you will enjoy building your business because you're part of that. So in his experience, he feels like if he builds a great team that enjoys what they do, that are challenged, that are driven, that feel empowered, then they create great products, and then great products create great profits. Now, this is a general rule and this is an archetype. It's not everything, you know, you still need to market, you need to sell. There's other little things you have to do in the middle, but this is a good general rule to live by in your business. All right, takeaway number seven. It's my final takeaway and it's my favorite one. And Ben, in this book, introduces the idea of the two different kinds of CEOs. You have to be peacetime CEO and wartime CEO. Peacetime CEO knows that proper protocol leads to winning. Wartime CEO violates protocol in order to win. Sometimes the circumstances are different. When he says wartime, he means that when things are difficult, when things are challenging, when you're facing adversity and you need to make some, you know, huge moves, sometimes some radical moves to shake your business into success. When it's peace time, things are great, things are successful, you're making profits, right? Let me give you two examples. Right now, Facebook is in peacetime, right? So right now, Mark Zuckerberg is probably a peacetime CEO. Yes, there's competition looming in the future, but they're pretty dominant now. They are the social network in terms of that kind of medium. And anything that comes in their way, whether it's WhatsApp or Instagram, they just buy them out. They're that powerful. On the other hand, you look at something like Snapchat, who had a very successful run, and they're still very successful. But now Instagram stories has kind of crept up on them and taking a lot of their market share when it comes to these, you know, video stories that people share throughout the day. And they're in wartime now because their whole claim to fame, the whole reason why the app got successful is because of their, you know, their videos. And now Instagram has a similar feature and a huge following and a lot of people even think they implemented it better. So they're trying to, you know, struggle their way into success. And he gives plenty of these examples. Peacetime CEO focuses on the big picture and empowers her people to make detailed decisions. Wartime CEO cares about a speck of dust on a gnat if it interferes with the prime directive. Details count when things are, you know, really, really gritty. Peacetime CEO builds scalable, high volume recruiting machines. Wartime CEO does that, but also builds HR organizations that can execute layoffs. Things are kind of shaky. You don't know what's going to happen. You need to be prepared if that happens, if you're going to have to cut your employees. Unfortunately, that's the reality of business sometimes, and that's the wartime CEO's mentality comes to hiring. Peacetime CEO spends time defining the culture. Wartime CEO lets the war define the culture. Those who survive this grind and this tough time will define the culture. These are going to be the superstars that kind of lead the culture and lead the organization. Peacetime CEO always has a contingency plan. Wartime CEO knows that sometimes you got to roll a hard six, sometimes you got to take risks. You don't have a choice when things are tight, when money's tight, when time is tight. So you could see with these parallels, you're not going to be the same kind of CEO all the time. Sometimes you're going to be this kind of CEO and sometimes you're going to be that kind of CEO. Let me give a couple more. Peacetime CEO knows what to do with a big advantage. While Wartime CEO is often paranoid. So in peace you feel like, hey, I'm in the lead here. I got a big advantage over my competition. I'm riding high. I know how to capitalize on that advantage. Wartime CEO, even if they have an advantage, they're paranoid that they'll lose the advantage. So be mindful of it. One more Peacetime CEO aims to expand the market. Wartime CEO aims to win the mark. So when you're at war, when you're struggling, when you're really trying to make a name for yourself, you're not big yet. You're not riding high. You're just trying to make sure you take on the market and that you make a name for yourself. When you've established yourself, you're trying to expand your market reach. Just like Facebook, right? They're expanding now. They're buying out Instagram, they bought out WhatsApp, and they've probably bought out a whole bunch of other things you never heard of. You get the point. You're not gonna be the same CEO no matter what the conditions are. You have to change. You have to adapt depending on what the business needs. And I love that because that's the honest truth. I find a little discomfort with that sometimes because I feel like I have to change who I am in certain circumstances with my team, but I have to give them what they need, and that's my job as the leader of the company. Guys, I can't highly recommend enough this book. I love this book. I love it so much that I'm reading it again. Like I mentioned, it hits home. It's real. It's so truthful. And if I ever meet Ben Horowitz in person, I will give him a huge bear hug for it. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Pick it up today. I highly recommend the audio version of this book. I listened to it on audible. It's great. Love the narration by the narrator. All right, that's it for me today, guys. Thank you so much for listening to the 100 OMBIE Show. If you love the show, let us know in an itunes rating and review. We'd love to hear from you. What's your favorite episode? What's your favorite takeaway? Let us know. Make sure you hit that subscribe button to keep getting episodes automatically right on your device, no matter what you use. Itunes, Stitcher, Overcast. We want to make sure that we deliver each episode right to your device. And the only way to do that is when you hit subscribe. All right, that's it for me today, guys. But before I go, I want to leave you with this. Reading books like this, the Hard thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz, really allows me to get perspective. And I feel like perspective is priceless as a CEO, as a leader of a company, as an entrepreneur. Sometimes you think that your problems are unique. And the more you read books like this, you realize they're not unique. They're a rite of passage. This is what people do. This is what people experience when they take on a business, when they build a business, when they try to grow a business. And even though my challenges and problems still exist, and I still have to solve them. I feel more confident about it. I feel better about it. I feel like I'm part of a cool club of people, the people that take on these challenges and build things that are pretty amazing. So take pride in that. And make sure you sprinkle in books like this throughout the year to keep you going, to keep you motivated, and to keep you grounded. Perspective is priceless, especially when you're having challenges. All right, that's it for me today. I'll check you guys in the next episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

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