Opening
Ben Horowitz (00:00:00): The worst thing that you do as a leader is you hesitate on the next decision. The thing that causes you to hesitate is both decisions are horrible. Probably one of my bigger ones on that was we went public with $2 million in trailing 12 months revenue at 18 months old. That's obviously a bad idea. But the truth of it was the alternative was going bankrupt, and that's a worse idea. Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:23): It's a very difficult and painful to be a CEO, to be a founder. In spite of that....
The opener starts with biography before advice. That order makes the guest legible as a person before the listener extracts tactics.
Low-ego framing
is both decisions are horrible. Probably one of my bigger ones on that was we went public with $2 million in trailing 12 months revenue at 18 months old. That's obviously a bad idea. But the...
Uses we/us, uncertainty, or learner framing instead of performing authority.
Accept praise cleanly
Things and What You Do is Who you are. Ben Horowitz (00:04:17): All right, thank you Lenny. Excited to be here. Lenny Rachitsky (00:04:19): I'm even more excited to have you here. Lenny...
Accepts praise without shrinking from it or turning it into a performance.
Name the work
solitary for seven years. He led a huge prison gang. You wrote about him in your book as a great exemplar of great culture in the prison gang that he ran. So interesting. But something that he learned...
Names a concrete strength, artifact, or contribution instead of offering generic praise.
Low-ego framing
Lenny Rachitsky (00:25:00): I don't know if yo...
Uses we/us, uncertainty, or learner framing instead of performing authority.
Accept praise cleanly
Lenny Rachitsky (01:37:22): Also, check out Paid in Full, paidinfullfoundation.org, if you want to...
Accepts praise without shrinking from it or turning it into a performance.