Ch. 4-5 in HTHT 1. For ben Horowitz, being a CEO is very unnatural because you need to take decisions and do things that will most likely make the people that work for you dislike their CEO. It is not an easy task and the benefits such as money and fame might not be as strong as the sacrifices required to be an effective CEO. As he points out: “There is not secret to be a successful CEO, but if there is one skill that stands out, it’s the ability to focus and make the best move when there are no good move.” CEO are not born they are made. To become a great CEO, one must make a lot of mistakes and most importantly learn from them. Ben was CEO of many companies through great and difficult times and he was always able to turn the situation to his advantage. In those chapters, he emphasizes a lot on the importance of evaluating people’s performances and constantly giving feedback. …show more content…
Before reading this book, I had an idea about the fact that being CEO of a company was not easy but I did not fully understand all the little details that a CEO must take into account everyday. I thought being surrounded but great people would make the life of the CEO easier because most of the hard decisions would be softened for him. I also thought that as chief officer, one would not have as many interactions with the employees of the firm as Ben describes. Now I understand that running a big company is a subtler job where every tiny detail counts. Even if the CEO’s primary job is to give a vision to its company, she has to be involved in every step of the process. I believe in that because the examples in the book make a lot of sense and they depict real life problems and show solutions that make sense. I think the perception that the general public as toward CEOs is that they live in their ivory tower with their huge salary and golden parachute but the reality is that those benefits come with a price: