Why Being a CEO isn't for You

 What if I told you that no amount of preparation—no book, no MBA, no mentorship—can fully equip you for the brutal, gut-wrenching reality of running a business? Sounds bleak, doesn’t it? Yet, Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things doesn’t sugarcoat the truth. It’s not a guide filled with clichés about leadership or generic advice about scaling startups. It’s a raw, unfiltered account of what it’s really like to be a CEO when everything goes wrong.

I stumbled across this book during one of those existential moments when you question whether you’re cut out for leadership. Horowitz’s words hit me like a freight train. He doesn’t romanticize the CEO role; he exposes its harshest truths. The sleepless nights, the agonizing decisions, the loneliness—it’s all there. But instead of despair, what emerges is a kind of resilience forged in the fires of adversity. If you’ve ever wondered what separates those who succeed from those who don’t, buckle up, because this is the story of survival in the trenches of entrepreneurship.

Let’s start with the hard thing at the heart of the book: there’s no formula for dealing with the most challenging problems. Horowitz calls these “hard things,” the issues that no one prepares you for—like laying off employees you care about, firing a close friend, or navigating your company through a crisis that could bankrupt it. He points out that these decisions aren’t just difficult; they’re uniquely painful because there’s rarely a clear right answer. And yet, as CEO, you can’t delegate them. The buck stops with you.

Horowitz speaks from experience. As the co-founder of Loudcloud and later Opsware, he’s faced every nightmare scenario imaginable. At one point, Loudcloud was hemorrhaging cash and teetering on the brink of collapse. The solution? A desperate pivot that involved selling the core business to keep the company afloat. It was a high-stakes gamble, and Horowitz had to convince investors, employees, and customers that it was the right move. Spoiler: it worked, but not without immense personal and professional cost.

One of the book’s standout lessons is that being a CEO is less about being a visionary and more about being a wartime leader. In peacetime, when everything is going well, it’s easy to focus on culture, strategy, and long-term goals. But in wartime, when your company’s survival is at stake, you need to make ruthless decisions, act decisively, and prioritize survival above all else. Horowitz describes this mindset with brutal honesty, likening the CEO’s role to that of a general in battle.

Another recurring theme is the importance of managing emotions—both your own and your team’s. Horowitz talks about “the struggle,” that dark, gnawing feeling of failure and inadequacy that every leader faces but few admit to. He doesn’t offer platitudes to fix it; instead, he emphasizes the need to push through it, to keep going even when every fiber of your being tells you to quit. His mantra? “Embrace the struggle.”

One of Horowitz’s most practical insights is his advice on hiring and firing. He stresses that hiring isn’t just about finding the best talent; it’s about finding the right fit for your company’s specific needs at a particular moment in its growth. On the flip side, firing isn’t just about letting someone go; it’s about doing it with respect and clarity. Horowitz’s emphasis on communication, even in the most uncomfortable moments, is a lesson every leader can learn from.

Horowitz also delves into the art of building culture. He argues that culture isn’t a set of values printed on a wall—it’s the sum of the behaviors you tolerate and the standards you enforce. Great culture, he says, starts at the top. It’s about leading by example, holding yourself accountable, and making sure your actions align with your words.

Perhaps the most surprising takeaway from the book is Horowitz’s focus on the power of communication. As a CEO, your job isn’t just to make decisions; it’s to make sure everyone understands them. He shares hard-won lessons about delivering bad news, setting expectations, and rallying your team during tough times. His honesty about his own missteps makes these lessons all the more impactful.

By the end of The Hard Thing About Hard Things, one thing becomes clear: there’s no playbook for being a great CEO. Leadership is messy, unpredictable, and often thankless. But it’s also deeply rewarding for those who have the grit to endure. Horowitz doesn’t offer easy answers because there aren’t any. What he offers instead is something far more valuable: the reassurance that you’re not alone in the struggle.

So, what does it take to succeed in the face of relentless adversity? It takes courage to confront the hardest problems head-on, resilience to endure the inevitable setbacks, and humility to learn from every mistake. The Hard Thing About Hard Things isn’t a book about how to avoid failure; it’s a book about how to survive it and come out stronger. And in a world obsessed with success stories, it’s a refreshing reminder that the hard things are what make the journey worthwhile.