Ben Horowitz on Excellence Quotes

"If you don't treat the people who leave well, the people who stay will never trust you."

"What you do is who you are."

"If you want to be a great leader, you have to be a great listener."

"The struggle is where perfection comes from."

"Every time you make the hard, correct decision you become a bit more courageous and every time you make the easy, wrong decision you become a bit more cowardly."

"You must be willing to kill your darlings to achieve excellence."

"If you are going to be excellent, you have to be willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time."

"Management is the process of making people better through the work they do."

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

"The hard thing isn’t setting a big, hairy, audacious goal. The hard thing is laying people off when you miss the big goal."

"A great culture is the result of thousands of small decisions that align with a core set of values."

"If you don't have a culture of excellence, you will have a culture of mediocrity by default."

"The first rule of entrepreneurial leverage is: if you can’t trust someone, you can’t give them any responsibility."

"In times of peace, the CEO must be a cheerleader. In times of war, the CEO must be a general."

"Success is not final, and failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts."

"Excellence is the result of high intentions, sincere effort, and intelligent execution."

"Take care of the people, the products, and the profits—in that order."

"The most important thing for a leader is to be authentic."

"Focus on where you are going, not on what you are afraid of."

"Hire for strength, not lack of weakness."

"You can’t just tell people what to do; you have to tell them why it matters."

"The hardest thing is not the technical challenge; it’s the human challenge."

"The pursuit of excellence is a lifelong journey, not a destination."

"The only thing that matters is the result."

"The most difficult part of management is managing your own psychology."

"The best leaders are those who are constantly learning and evolving."

"The most important skill for a CEO is the ability to communicate effectively."

"The difference between a good product and a great product is the attention to detail."

"The best way to predict the future is to build it."

"Excellence is not a destination; it is a way of being."

"Culture is the way that employees make decisions when the CEO is not in the room."

"A culture of excellence is built on a foundation of trust and accountability."

"If you want to build a great company, you have to be willing to do the things that don't scale first."