The Hard Thing About Hard Things

During the road show, as a way to break the tension, Marc would say, “Remember, Ben, things are always darkest before they go completely black. (Location 547)

“When we drove off the cliff, we left no skid marks. (Location 577)

“We’ll go bankrupt, I’ll lose everybody’s money including my mother’s, I’ll have to lay off all the people who have been working so hard in a very bad economy, all of the customers who trusted me will be screwed, and my reputation will be ruined.” Funny, asking that question never made me feel any better. (Location 591)

There comes a time in every company’s life where it must fight for its life. If you find yourself running when you should be fighting, you need to ask yourself, “If our company isn’t good enough to win, then do we need to exist at all? (Location 1436)

Keep in mind that there is no investment that you can make that will do more to improve productivity in your company. Therefore, being too busy to train is the moral equivalent of being too hungry to eat. (Location 1729)

And to rub salt into the wound and make matters worse, it’s your fault. (Location 2982)

Tip to aspiring entrepreneurs: If you don’t like choosing between horrible and cataclysmic, don’t become CEO. (Location 3034)

Wartime CEO thinks the competition is sneaking into her house and trying to kidnap her children. (Location 3322)