The Hard Thing : Book Review

The full title of the book is a bit too long: The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz. In comparison, the book is quite short. And the chapters and paragraphs are short too, a bit similar to blog posts compared to productivity/business books. The lessons however are packed and concise.

The book starts with talking about the author, his backgrounds and childhood which I found mildly interesting but not really relevant to the book. Then again, this is his book and he did refer to this phases later in the book. He then described how he built his first and next company, and how the narrative goes. The second part of the book, he described the lessons learned or the playbook. I find this very useful because the first part describes the story, without peppering it with advices, and the second part can be easier referred for second readings, or when you try to actively learn from the book.

And learn I have. Although I must say the advices are mostly for CEOs or senior executives, it helps to understand what business is trying to do so that as an employee, I can read the bigger picture from the telltales. Also I doesn’t hurt to prepare before I become a CEO myself, 🤪.

All in all, one of the most interesting book I’ve read this year, and certainly one of the more useful ones. Recommended.

Thank you for reading.