Every leader eventually learns the same lesson…
The hardest part of running a business isn’t the work itself.
It’s making the decisions when there are no easy answers.
In his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz captures the messy, gut-wrenching reality of leadership when the stakes are high and clarity is absent. He reminds us that leadership often means moving forward even when people are scared, when resources are thin, and when you’re not sure if the decision you’re about to make is the right one.
“By far the most difficult skill I learned as a CEO was the ability to manage my own psychology.”
— Ben Horowitz
Lessons for Manufacturing Leaders
While Horowitz writes from the world of tech startups, his lessons are just as relevant in manufacturing, where complexity, uncertainty, and risk are part of daily operations.
Three lessons stand out:
- Embrace the struggle. The hardest problems are the ones that shape teams and companies. Avoiding them only delays the pain. But facing them head-on creates resilience. And yes, often there is no clear playbook or silver bullet solution. But those who choose to embrace the struggle and avoid getting stuck in analysis paralysis will make the most progress.
- Build trust through honesty. Leaders sometimes feel pressure to be overly positive, but sugarcoating problems erodes credibility. Employees respect leaders who are transparent, even when the truth is hard. And here’s the thing, people can often handle bad news. What they can’t handle is surprise. So, remember, honesty creates trust even when what you need to share isn’t great.
- Keep people first. In tough times, people don’t remember spreadsheets or strategies. Instead, they remember how they were treated. The best leaders learn to steady themselves so they can steady others. They prioritize people, products, and profits, in this order. If you don’t put people first, the other two won’t survive.
The Work That Hurts
These lessons show up in our own industry every day. In fact, our VP of Engineering recently wrote about a similar theme in his article, The Work That Hurts. He talks about how the most valuable work in manufacturing is often the hardest work because it forces us to wrestle with problems that don’t have easy answers.
Both Horowitz’s perspective and our own experience point to the same reality: the path forward in manufacturing isn’t about avoiding pain. It’s about leaning into the hard things because growth is born out of discomfort. The work that stretches people, tests leaders, and ultimately creates growth is the work worth doing.
So, Ask Yourself…
When you face the next hard thing, will you step back and say, “I can’t”? Or will you embrace the struggle in pursuit of building something better?
At PJWS, we believe learning doesn’t stop in the classroom or even on the job. Many of our leaders and team members grow through reading, and the ideas we’ve gathered from authors over the years have shaped how we think, lead, and build our business. That’s why we’re launching a new series: Books for Building Better
Each post will explore a book that’s helped us improve—from leadership and engineering to culture and strategy—and the ways we apply those lessons. Have a book that’s inspired you? Share it with us at: wallbank@pjws.com
Concepts and selected quotes adapted from The Hard Things About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz are used under fair use for commentary and educational purposes.