What You Do Is Who You Are

by Ben Horowitz

Category: Leadership

Book Reviews

  • Book 42 Lessons: Your culture is the set of norms that shape people’s decision-making when you aren’t around. Cultivate the virtues that you can embody and follow, and don’t let ethical principles go unsaid. https://t.co/nhvxMkdcSxLink to Tweet
  • I read an early copy of @bhorowitz's new book about company cultures, and thought it was great! Check it out: https://t.co/9RRcPI2qbsLink to Tweet
  • I just finished the new @bhorowitz book, "What You Do Is Who You Are" - pretty tough job to follow up his earlier book, but he did. It's truly exceptional. I am encouraging every founder, CEO and head of product I know to please read: https://t.co/YBAbSkQZ9gLink to Tweet
  • Spent last night reading @bhorowitz's new book and it's fantastic. I've seen a lot of different cultures good and bad, it can make or break an experience. You can tell there was a significant amount of thought put into the book. https://t.co/aqJehORbChLink to Tweet
  • My brother and friend @bhorowitz new book What You Do Is Who You Are is here. The concepts in the book illustrate how culture can either be a ruinous force or be programmed to build and sustain a great organization https://t.co/JAU9k0Nz9CLink to Tweet
  • Very excited about @bhorowitz's new book release. I liked it even more than the last one :) https://t.co/MUOWjXeZKC (proceeds are going here https://t.co/5Ph9t05qcd)Link to Tweet
  • My partner @bhorowitz has a new book! You can buy it here https://t.co/bD1mtsCAjY and this is what it's about and where the $ is going: https://t.co/Tj8MDUProC #WhatYouDoIsWhoYouAreLink to Tweet
  • I write a lot about the changes that happen as companies move from self-serve business models into enterprise • CEO travels more • Growing sales org = culture change • Product = build for customers @bhorowitz new book is a must-read especially on navigating ‘war times’ https://t.co/X67ZxSQTRsLink to Tweet
  • I am excited about @bhorowitz's new book. You can buy it here https://t.co/ywOuSpp348 and this is what it's about and where the money is going: https://t.co/f9ZLlT4TPp #WhatYouDoIsWhoYouAreLink to Tweet
  • Great night at @bhorowitz @FeliciaHorowitz home discussing what culture really is. Was a treat to hear behind the scenes stories about culture and leadership in sports from Patriots owner Bob Kraft and from my friend @MCHammer. Pre order Ben’s book here https://t.co/zJ0yqDLQDj https://t.co/iIrd2Uvd6CLink to Tweet
  • @bhorowitz is giving 100% of proceeds from his new book to anti-recidivism & Haitian charities. Which is just another great reason to purchase it.... ty Ben! https://t.co/atLx1Y8OG1Link to Tweet

About Book

Ben Horowitz, a leading venture capitalist, modern management expert, and New York Times bestselling author, combines lessons both from history and from modern organizational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help executives build cultures that can weather both good and bad times. Ben Horowitz has long been fascinated by history, and particularly by how people behave differently than you’d expect. The time and circumstances in which they were raised often shapes them—yet a few leaders have managed to shape their times. In What You Do Is Who You Are, he turns his attention to a question crucial to every organization: how do you create and sustain the culture you want? To Horowitz, culture is how a company makes decisions. It is the set of assumptions employees use to resolve everyday problems: should I stay at the Red Roof Inn, or the Four Seasons? Should we discuss the color of this product for five minutes or thirty hours? If culture is not purposeful, it will be an accident or a mistake. What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building—the leader of the only successful slave revolt, Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture; the Samurai, who ruled Japan for seven hundred years and shaped modern Japanese culture; Genghis Khan, who built the world’s largest empire; and Shaka Senghor, an American ex-con who created the most formidable prison gang in the yard and ultimately transformed prison culture. Horowitz connects these leadership examples to modern case-studies, including how Louverture’s cultural techniques were applied (or should have been) by Reed Hastings at Netflix, Travis Kalanick at Uber, and Hillary Clinton, and how Genghis Khan’s vision of cultural inclusiveness has parallels in the work of Don Thompson, the first African-American CEO of McDonalds, and of Maggie Wilderotter, the CEO who led Frontier Communications. Horowitz then offers guidance to help any company understand its own strategy and build a successful culture. What You Do Is Who You Are is a journey through culture, from ancient to modern. Along the way, it answers a question fundamental to any organization: who are we? How do people talk about us when we’re not around? How do we treat our customers? Are we there for people in a pinch? Can we be trusted? Who you are is not the values you list on the wall. It’s not what you say in company-wide meeting. It’s not your marketing campaign. It’s not even what you believe. Who you are is what you do. This book aims to help you do the things you need to become the kind of leader you want to be—and others want to follow.

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