the hard thing about hard things

This is the best piece of management book I have ever read. Period. And I have read pretty much all the management books that I could lay my hand on. The effective executive, One minute manager, Lead not manage, Good to great, Built to last, Start with why, The 7 habits of highly effective people, How to win friends, The five dysfunction… and the list goes on…

None of the latter books had come close to the kind of perspective this book offers. And none could I relate on such a personal level, because here is the hard truth my friend, it sucks to be a CEO.

Even if your company is winning, the level of pressure on you is just insane. It's non-stop work, weekends included. You have to use all your available resources just to stay in the game. And no matter how well you do sooner or later you will have to fire somebody you really like.

Disclaimer: I wanted to be a CEO for such a long time. I loved the idea of grueling pressure turning a mere piece of coal into a diamond. But then I watched the days in the lives of the Tim Cooks, the Jensen Huangs, and Bob Igers. The harsh reality of waking up at 4 am just to halve your inbox till normal people start to wake up… And I have started to wonder: is this a prize worth winning?

Nevertheless, these CEOs are still my people on some level, and I am still fascinated by them. And it's worth knowing that when life gives you lemons, and your company faces bankruptcy, you can still lay off half of your company and use your leftover cash to double down on your last bet…

To be honest, I will probably come back for some frank advice on hiring, firing, and transitioning. But in the meantime, there were two concepts that really stood out for me in the book. Let me dive into each.

Peace time CEO / Wartime CEO

I have long been fascinated by the complex and chaotic state.

When I lived in Hungary I checked the weather once a week. I looked at my weather application and instantly had a good estimate of how the forthcoming week would look. But since I moved to the Netherlands this has completely changed. I look at the weather application every single day. Sometimes even multiple times a day. Because the weather in the Netherlands changes so freaking fast that the applications lag.

Fun fact: In Holland, there is an extreme sport called the Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships that is organized every year next to the coast. It only starts when the wind speed reaches at least 50km/h. The year before it was canceled because the wind was too big…

So why bring this up? It's because just like the weather, the state of business sometimes shifts from complex to chaotic, and different rules start to apply!

Most contemporary business has shifted from the complicated to the complex realm. BUT the thing that kept me on my toes was how the complex changes to chaotic?

But now thanks to the book I know! It's all about war.

The complex state changes to chaotic when the environment or the organization moves too fast.

War is when the company is running out of resources fast. War is when market conditions change so rapidly that the existing business is disappearing. War when the company is destabilizing and on the brink of extinction.

When such a state applies, rules change, and the organization can not afford to experiment because uncertainty destroys. In these hard times, the CEO is the General, and the Company must act together swiftly to survive.

What's the function of the CEO?

This question has long been bothering me… Cause it's not that straightforward… Is it managing the performance of the team? Or is it coaching people for professional growth? Is it capital allocation? Hiring world-class talent? Or deciding the strategic direction of the company? Is it all? Or is it any?

Almost everybody is better at one thing than another. And in my humble opinion that is especially true for high achievers. Think about the 10x developer who has zero soft skills.

A mistake I see large companies make is they hire for lack of weaknesses instead of strength.

When you assess any executive think about which strength you want and which weaknesses you tolerate.

This categorization from the book I found very useful:

1. “Will the executive be world-class at running the function? “
2. “Is the executive outstanding operationally?“
3. “Will the executive make a major contribution to the strategic direction of the company? This is the “are they smart enough?” criterion.”
4. “Will the executive be an effective member of the team? Effective is the key word. It's possible for an executive to be well liked and totally ineffective with respect to the other members of the team. It's also possible for an executive to be highly effective and profoundly influential while being totally despised. The latter is far better.”

"These functions do not carry equal weight for all positions. Make sure that you balance them appropriately."