Many of the successful businesspeople I’ve talked to on my podcast, Growth Mindset Podcast, have recommended The Hard Thing About Hard Things as an essential read. Now, when I ask for a business book recommendation, I always make sure to specify that I’m looking for something “different than the obvious Hard Thing About Things.”
How come it’s so great? While most business books concentrate on avoiding mistakes, Ben admits right from the bat that there is no such thing as a perfect firm and that missteps will occur regardless of how meticulously you plan. While in charge of multibillion-dollar companies, he admits to numerous gaffes and explains how he and his staff either fixed the situation or made it worse with their subsequent judgments.
He describes some of the most difficult choices he had to make and some of the worst scenarios one can imagine. It’s been said that being an entrepreneur involves a roller coaster of emotions, and this book captures the whole nasty image of what it’s like to face tragedy head-on. I think the book’s popularity stems from its emphasis on the realities of being an entrepreneur.
CEO Lessons
CEOs in times of peace who can see the big picture and act rationally
Strategic culture builders, for instance, adhere to procedures, establish objectives, create backup plans, and try to keep conflicts to a minimum.
CEO during wartime who is only concerned with the here and now and doesn’t care about anyone else.
Let the situation determine the culture, ignore all rules, don’t have time to read self-help books, don’t have a contingency plan, and fight with everyone who gets in the way of your plans are all examples.
There are no foolproof methods for achieving goals or magical solutions to difficult challenges.
In the face of adversity, there is no foolproof formula for managing a business or inspiring your employees to keep going. Don’t give up, and keep trying the finest solutions you can think of.
Hold your composure — Enjoy the challenge
“Life is a struggle,” as the saying goes, and it is precisely in the times when you feel like hiding and dying that your position is most vital and you may make the most difference.
Making and carrying out a plan is still required even if your odds of success are 1 in 10,000.
The warrior’s code is simple: Never forget that you will eventually die. Act honorably and responsibly every day as if it were your last.
Just tell it how it is.
A lot of people may put undue pressure on you to always look on the bright side. Face your fears and speak the truth despite the consequences. Establish an environment where people feel safe to speak up rather than hide from issues.
If a business is doing well, employees aren’t afraid to speak up when anything goes wrong, and they’re willing to openly discuss and work through any issues that arise.
Put another way, rephrase the worst-case situation
Imagining the worst-case scenario without taking any action is useless. Terminate all employees, squander the investment capital provided by the company’s shareholders, suffer the loss of your home (and perhaps the respect of your parents, if they too had financial stakes), let down your clients, and tarnish your reputation….
In its place, you may pose the question, “What would you do if we went bankrupt?” It may provide inspiration for new directions to take. Ben’s approach was to start a software startup leveraging a product already in development within the corporation. The next question to ask is whether or not you can afford to do that.
Single persons slow down big organisations.
It always boils down to one guy who can hold up an entire project whenever a major organisation tries to do anything.
A manager might feel they lack the power to make a purchase or make a choice, and if that’s the case, they’d be in a bind. Even the smallest of delays can prove fatal. If someone is stuck on something, it needs to be identified and resolved within 24 hours.
It is crucial that you focus on your people, your products, and your bottom line (in that order). Those other two are irrelevant if human beings aren’t prioritized first.
Working with enthusiasm
When employees enjoy their time at work, they are more invested in their work and more likely to go above and beyond to achieve their goals. When things are going well, it’s not crucial to be
a good company. However, this is a universal truth: something will go wrong. To add insult to injury, a good company can literally mean the difference between life and death.
Initiate the difficult process of deciding dead on
You need to act promptly and not put off making the tough choices. For organizational problems, a good CEO will speak honestly and directly at the outset, before the costs mount. e.g. If they could preserve a popular initiative that wasn’t included in the long-term strategy for morale’s sake, they would, but they had to cut it today.
Hiring
Since there is no such thing as a flawless person or employee, it’s important to look for candidates who are both strong and ready to improve their weaknesses.
Having a lot of fun at work is only one of the many perks of working when things are going well.
1. As the company expands, more opportunities for advancement and better jobs become available to you.
2. You will be the envy of all your friends and relations. Family and friends will think you’re brilliant for landing a job at the “it” firm.
3. You can add more weight to your resume if you worked for a blue chip business while it was at its peak.
4. And you’re becoming rather wealthy, by the way.
When things go wrong, though, all those advantages become liabilities. When things at work start to go south, the only thing that keeps an employee there despite the difficulties is that she likes her job.
For this reason, the book suggests, when growing your staff:
1. Look for strengths, not weaknesses, when filling positions.
2. Recognize that there is a major flaw in every member of your staff and set high standards for the people you hire (including you). Actually, no one can claim to be flawless.
3. Collaborate with a team but make a final call on your own. Decisions reached through group consensus are notorious for undermining the efficacy of any given procedure.
Keep politics to a minimum.
As firms scale vital work can go undetected, and this must not be accepted. Managers and politicians can steal the spotlight from hardworking employees, and red tape can stifle innovation and dampen morale.
Principals of management that are of paramount importance:
1. You want people with the proper kind of drive, so hire accordingly. They need to have faith in the company’s mission and vision and want its success more than they want their own personal success.
2. Maintain tight regulations and practices on organizational design, performance assessments, promotions, and remuneration. Paying out too much to an employee who leaves for a better job is a common mistake.
3. Promote experienced personnel by comparing performance against objectives, managerial abilities, inventiveness, and their ability to work well with others. 4. Having regular one-on-one meetings between managers and their subordinates is an excellent way to keep up with performance management and employee feedback. A forum like this is crucial because it gives workers a place to air their concerns, share their ideas, and vent their long-simmering anger without fear of retaliation.
Peter Principle
Members of a Hierarchy rise up the ranks as long as they perform their duties well. Their level of incompetence is ultimately recognized by a promotion to a job in which they are no longer qualified. They are stuck in a position they are not qualified for since they cannot advance in their current position.
Avoid the “Peter Principle” trap at all costs! (If you follow the tips above and are familiar with the theory, maybe this won’t happen to you.)
Summary
Outline The book recounts his life in chronological order, giving the reader a feel for how to tackle challenges in real life. Your level of success is supposedly proportional to the number of challenging talks you’re prepared to have, and this book will help you develop the self-awareness and practical skills you’ll need to initiate those conversations.
If you want to really have the lessons mentioned above engrained into your approach, rather than just reading bullet points from a summary, it is worth your time to read the complete story. Have fun reading it, and accept the challenge of succeeding.
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