I heard so many great things about The Hard Thing About Hard Things when it was released. Naturally, I bought it, and it took me a bit to get to it on my To Be Read list. While I think the book is good and helpful, I am not the right person in the right place to take full advantage of the content.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things is a great book filled with hard truths about running a successful tech company. It’s narrow in focus but full of little wisdom nuggets. Never having been a tech company CEO nor working at a tech company in the early 2000s, I couldn’t relate to many of the anecdotes, but the lessons are there when you look for them.

The writing was quick and easy to understand. One thing I found myself noticing a lot in this book was how male-dominated everything felt. Again, it feels representative of the time, place, and industry, but today in 2021, some parts feel dated and moments when you say, “that wouldn’t fly today.” I could be wrong! There’s still bro culture in the tech world that has not diminished, but things are changing and improving. I appreciate the recaps at the end of the chapter, which distilled the anecdotes into takeaways and lessons.

3/5 - If you’re a male CEO (or aspiring CEO) in tech, you might get a lot from this book. The shortened recap might suffice for others.

Lessons Learned from The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

• Being a jerk never pays off

• You will die. Are you happy with how you’re spending your days?

• Confront yourself with a straightforward question: Which is more important: work or family? Act and plan accordingly.