Big companies have trouble with innovation. Innovation is about bad ideas, or ideas that look like bad ideas. That's the fundamental thing.
Ben HorowitzRead
As a company gets big, the information that informs decision-making gets massive. Depending upon the prism through which you view the business, your perspective will vary. If two people are in charge, this variance will cause conflict and delay.
Interpretation
What this quote means
As companies grow, the complexity of information increases, which can lead to conflicts in decision-making based on different perspectives.
In this quote, Ben Horowitz emphasizes the challenges that arise in leadership as organizations expand. He points out that with growth comes an overwhelming amount of information, and when different leaders hold varying viewpoints or 'prisms' through which they interpret this information, it can lead to disagreements and slowed decision-making processes. This highlights the importance of aligning perspectives among leadership to ensure effective functioning and progress within a large company.
Themes
LeadershipDecision-MakingConflictPerspectiveGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a corporate leadership meeting to address internal conflicts on strategy.
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