English - Businessman | June 13, 1966 -
I was an executive running a pretty substantial group before becoming CEO, and I had no idea what it was like. When something goes wrong, people say, 'It's all your fault.' Your reaction is, 'It's not my fault.' But what do you mean? I was the founder, I hired everybody in the company, I was managing it.
Ben Horowitz
PeopleYouWrongSayGroupMean
In life, you don't have a level of confrontation and the nonsense you run into when you're a CEO. CEOs aren't born.
LifeYouBornRunNonsenseLevel
Look - this is the terror of being a founder & CEO. It is all your fault. Every decision, every person you hire, every dumb thing you buy or do - ultimately, you're at the end.
DecisionEndYouLookDumbPerson
As long as people are clear on what they need to do and what's going on, you're very likely to succeed. When nobody is clear, then you're guaranteed to fail.
PeopleSucceedLongYouNobodyNeed
I'm a huge believer in clarity.
ClarityBelieverHuge
If I have one skill as a manager, I can make things extremely clear.
I CanSkillManagerThingsClear
From a systematic standpoint, I think that capitalism is the best system. I can spend a lot of time explaining why I like communism, but it is actually not a good solution. Nor is socialism. So, capitalism is the right model.
GoodTimeBestCommunismSocialism
Some libertarians say, 'Well, if people work harder, they can make more money.' But, you know, my mother is a nurse and I am a venture capitalist. I think no matter how great a nurse she is, she wouldn't earn a one-thousandth of what I can make, if that.
WorkMotherGreatMoneyI AmPeople
One person is never as stupid as a group of people. That's why they have lynch mobs, not lynch individuals.
PeopleStupidPersonGroupWhyMobs
Most of my job and most of what I do is to mentor people. There are a lot of people I work with that I don't have investments in.
WorkJobPeopleMentorMostLot
Groupon looked like a very high valuation, but any investment in a great company at any stage is almost always a good investment.
GoodGreatInvestmentCompanyHigh
I emphasize to C.E.O.s, you have to have a story in the minds of the employees. It's hard to memorize objectives, but it's easy to remember a story.
StoryEmployeesRememberEasyYou
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