Ben Horowitz Quotes

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.

I think they, Peter McCullough was, turns out was not a good CEO.

Politics exist in the boardroom, as well.

Clearly, every company needs a leader. That's an important part of being the CEO of the company.

When I was working in the Pentagon, I had to own the recommendations I made up the chain of command.

If you don't want responsibility, don't sit in the big chair. To be successful, you must accept full responsibility

Leadership is taking responsibility while others are making excuses.

The buck stops with me, but I can tick off dozens of very good senior executives that are responsible for hundreds or thousands of people who work for me.

If I had undertaken the practical direction of military operations, and anything went amiss, I feared that my conscience would torture me, as guilty of the fall of my country, as I had not been familiar with military tactics.

Here's the teaching point, if you're teaching kids about intelligence and policy: Intelligence does not absolve policymakers of responsibility to ask tough questions, and it doesn't absolve them of having curiosity about the consequences of their actions.

Every employee in a company depends on the C.E.O. to make fast, high-quality decisions.

Most of the time nothing much is required of directors, which is a pity.

When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.

Clearly in my mind, I have two distinct positions - owner and manager. So I am open to reviewing my performance as a manager as any other person in Sun Pharma.

Clearly, as a CEO, you have other functions that are managed by other people.

What I have found is that, in a family business structure, sometimes what is needed is a sense of discipline rather than creativity. You have to take everyone's ideas and make it work. When you are dealing with money, there is a limitation on how creative you can be.

Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power.

The owner always has the final say. You have to decide who is going to be the best fit for the organization.

If I'm a leader, I have a mission.

The general manager is kind of like the step into darkness when you reach the top of the league. As GM, you're responsible for everything, including the maitre d's and the sommeliers - all these people who have their own agendas. But you probably make less than the maitre d' and have a lot more work and a lot more headaches.

The President is going to benefit from me reporting directly to him when I arrive.

You have to be responsible when you're running an organization, and firing people who are your friends is part of that responsibility.

One of the sad truths about leadership is that, the higher up the ladder you travel, the less you know.

I recognize we will pay more attention when we have different leadership.

The rule for effective governance is simple. It is one Ronald Reagan knew by heart. And one that he successfully employed with Social Security and the Cold War. When there is a problem, you fix it. That is the job you have been sent to do and you cannot wait for someone else to do it for you.