by Ben Horowitz
This is what it means to create a great culture. This is what it means to be a leader.
Author’s Note
In my discussion of Toussaint Louverture I rely on the following books: The Black Jacobins: Toussaint Louverture and the San Domingo Revolution, by C. L. R. James; Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History; A Play in Three Acts, by C. L. R. James; This Gilded African: Toussaint L’Ouverture, by Wanda Parkinson; The Memoir of General Toussaint Louverture, translated and edited by Philippe Girard; Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life, by Philippe Girard; The Slaves Who Defeated Napoleon: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian War of Independence, 1801–1804, by Philippe Girard; Toussaint Louverture: A Black Jacobin in the Age of Revolutions, by Charles Forsdick and Christian Høgsbjerg; Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves, by Adam Hochschild; and Tracing War in British Enlightenment and Romantic Culture, by Gillian Ramsey and Neil Russell.
My thoughts on the samurai have been shaped by Bushido: The Soul of Japan, by Inazo Nitobé; Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, translated by Alexander Bennett; Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke, translated by Thomas Cleary; Training the Samurai Mind: A Bushido Sourcebook, edited and translated by Thomas Cleary; and The Complete Book of Five Rings, by Miyamoto Musashi, edited and translated by Kenji Tokitsu.
Genghis Khan has inspired hundreds of books, and hundreds of viewpoints. I can’t say that I have read them all, but I was inspired in particular by Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford; Genghis: Birth of an Empire, by Conn Iggulden; and Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy, by Frank McLynn.
My sense of Robert Noyce and his importance to Silicon Valley owes a debt to Tom Wolfe’s article in Esquire magazine in December 1983, “The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce,” and Leslie Berlin’s The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley.
I quote from my conversations with Shaka Senghor, Reed Hastings, Bill Campbell, Todd McKinnon, Lea Endres, Ralph McDaniels, Mark Cranney, Nasir Jones, Patrick Collison, Michael Ovitz, Larry Page, Stewart Butterfield, Ariel Kelman, Maggie Wilderotter, Don Thompson, Ali Ghodsi, Steve Stoute, and Diane Greene.
Acknowledgments
There is no way this book would have been written without the constant prodding, everlasting encouragement, and boundless energy of my darling wife, Felicia. I had no intention of writing a second book, but she insisted. For that, and for so many other things, I am eternally grateful that I met her thirty-three years ago. She is my inspiration, my muse, my everything.
My friendship with Shaka Senghor was that catalyst that got me to start writing about a topic I’d long been thinking about. I am forever appreciative of his generosity in sharing his story and his insights into how culture works from the ground up.
The conversations I’ve had over the years with Steve Stoute have greatly expanded my understanding of culture; his insights on race and inclusion inspired the chapter on Genghis Khan.
I began the book thinking that I needed to write about hip-hop culture and how it created the most successful musical art form of our time. I realized once I got into that story that I would need an entire book to tell it, but the inspiration I got from my research proved invaluable to me as I wrote. Fab 5 Freddy, MC Hammer, Nas, and Ralph McDaniels were particularly helpful and inspiring.
Bernard Tyson was extremely generous with his time, especially considering he is running the largest healthcare company in the United States.
I am beholden to Don Thompson, Maggie Wilderotter, Stewart Butterfield, Todd McKinnon, Mark Cranney, Patrick Collison, Ariel Kelman, Lea Endres, and Michael Ovitz for sharing their stories and insights.
My understanding of Genghis Khan is significantly informed by the work of both Jack Weatherford and Frank McLynn; their books helped me grasp the intimate relationship between Genghis’s cultural and military strategies.
I am obliged to Henry Louis Gates Jr. for reviewing the manuscript and helping me make the Toussaint Louverture section as accurate as possible. And I am deeply indebted to Philippe Girard for his amazing research on the Haitian Revolution, which enabled me to begin to frame some thoughts on what set Louverture apart as a cultural thinker.
A number of people read the manuscript and offered incisive suggestions: thank you to Marc Andreessen, Amanda Hesser, David Horowitz, Elissa Horowitz, Felicia Horowitz, Jules Horowitz, Sophia Horowitz, Michael Ovitz, Chris Schroeder, Shaka Senghor, Merrill Stubbs, and Jim Surowiecki.
Thank you to my publisher, Hollis Heimbouch, for encouraging me to write this book. Your belief in me as a writer has been inspiring. And to my agent, Amanda Urban, who gave me the confidence to write about the Haitian Revolution and has been an unparalleled supporter and collaborator.
Finally, I’d like to give a shout out to Tad Friend. Without his help, doggedness, productive combativeness, and commitment to the cause as my collaborator, there would be no book. Thank you, Tad.
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Index
The pagination of this digital edition does not match the print edition from which the index was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your ebook reader's search tools.
Accenture, 50
accuracy: of decisions, 225–27
actions
beliefs and, 190, 197
and breaking your own rules, 205
culture as set of, 54
Genghis Khan culture and, 143
samurai culture and, 91
virtues and, 190, 197
See also behavior; what you do
Adams, John, 29
admitting mistakes, 75–76
AdRoll, 190
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), 9
Airbus, 186
Akbar, Na’im, 117
Alexander, Eric, 84
Alexander the Great, 37
Allen, James, 117
Alphabet, 81–82, 229
Amazon
Bar Raisers at, 192–93
culture at, 4, 5
decision making at, 225, 227
designing culture at, 4, 5, 186, 192–93
and Louverture tactics, 52–53
meetings at, 53–54
rules at, 52
values at, 52–54
Amelio, Gil, 48
Andreessen Horowitz
breaking your own rules at, 202–6
decision making at, 226
and inclusion, 175
Lyft investment by, 80
and samurai culture, 98–100
and Winfrey show, 107
Andreessen, Marc, 11, 61, 202
See also Andreessen Horowitz
Apple
customer obsession at, 201
decision making at, 228–29, 231
designing culture at, 4–5, 186
and Louverture techniques, 45–48
Think Different advertising campaign of, 47
The Art of War (Sun Tzu), 212
As a Man Thinketh (Allen), 117
assigning new meanings, 235–38
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, 115, 117
bad news, 234–41, 242
Baljuna oaths, 152–53
Bar Raisers (Amazon), 192–93
Barkley, Charles, 180–81
Barksdale, Jim, 105
Barra, Mary, 56–58
Bayon de Libertat, François, 24
Begter (brother of Genghis Khan), 142, 143, 157
behavior
building/creating culture and, 15, 127
and color, 24–25
and culture as universal, 132–33
and definition of culture, 17
designing and shaping, 3–4
and identifying existing culture, 129–30
inconsistent/hypocritical, 36–38
and Louverture techniques, 51
and making ethics explicit, 80
partnerships and, 51
role in culture of, 1–2, 5, 24–25, 29
and Senghor culture, 128, 129–30, 131–33
and your culture, 246
See also actions; culture breakers; what you do; specific behavior
being on time: and samurai culture, 98–100
being you, 180–83
beliefs
and actions, 190, 197
and designing your culture, 190, 197
samurai culture and, 91
and your culture, 233
Bell, Alexander Graham, 11
belonging: and prison culture, 119
benevolence: and samurai culture, 95
Berkshire Hathaway, 229
Bewkes, Jeffrey, 71
Bezos, Jeff, 5, 186
Black Panthers, 114
BlackBerry Ltd., 201
BladeLogic, 60, 61, 66
blame games, 242
Blockbuster, 69, 71
“Blood Genealogy,” 103–4
board of directors: conflicts with, 206–9
bonding: in prison, 124
Boorchu (follower of Genghis Khan), 149
Borte (wife of Genghis Khan), 141, 143, 144
breakbeats, 6
breaking promises, 206–9
breaking your own rules, 201–6
breakthrough ideas. See innovative ideas
Breslow, Jordan, 136
Britain: and Haitian Revolution, 21, 26, 27, 28–29, 40, 44
Brown, John, 44
Buffett, Warren, 229
Bunel, Joseph, 29
bushido, 13, 90, 106, 190, 197
See also samurai
Bushido Shoshinshu, 92–93, 101–2
Bushido, Soul of Japan, 96–97
Butterfield, Stewart, 4, 134–35, 190–92
Caesar, Julius, 23–24, 34
Campbell, Bill, 94, 184–85
caring: and designing your culture, 194–96
case studies. See specific person, business or topic
caste system, 167–72
CEOs
and bad news, 240–41
and being yourself, 181–83
learning how to be, 202–6
personalities of, 232
See also decisions; leadership; specific person
Chan, Connie, 203–5
Chance the Rapper, 179