The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

Horowitz states that as a company grows, it is bound to change. The rules that worked on a small scale may no longer be appropriate over time. In this chapter, Horowitz shares some insights on how to navigate the growth process.

How to Minimize Politics in Your Company

CEOs are usually responsible for the political climate of a company, often unintentionally. To this end, they need to be careful in regard to the messages they send, especially to their management team. Some processes are more vulnerable to political exploitation and need to be handled carefully. Performance evaluations and compensation procedures must be formalized. Otherwise, they risk being manipulated by individual managers. Another risky area is organizational design and territory in which managers might compete to expand their own influence and control.

Promotions must be based on clear guidelines to limit the discontent of employees who feel undervalued. As an organization grows, gossip and complaints may escalate. The greatest danger for a CEO, argues Horowitz, is to incentivize the wrong kind of behavior in the management team.

The Right Kind of Ambition

Horowitz offers that personal ambition that supersedes ambition for the company can be a problem: “It is particularly important that managers have the right kind of ambition, because anything else will be exceptionally demotivating for their employees” (155).