It’s day 4 of the new year, and I’ve already finished my first book of 2021: The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. You might know who Ben Horowtiz if you are familiar with the tech industry, as he’s a tech entrepreneur and also the co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z since they didn’t think anyone would be able to spell all THAT out in a URL.

If you read a lot of the reviews for this book, they will say that you probably shouldn’t read this book unless you are either a CEO, planning to be a CEO, or planning to be part of a C-Suite of SOME company. I think those reviewers are idiots because there’s a lot that can be learned from someone who has successfully sold companies and started his own company to fund and back OTHER companies.

For me, I have zero desire or aspiration to become a C-Suite anything or a CEO. I have little ambitions, frankly, for moving up the ladder in the tech industry. For me, as long as I am earning what I want and my earnings are growing, and I work at a company where I actually enjoy the customers and my colleagues, that’s all that really matters to me at this point. Reading this book did help me reflect more on all the companies I’ve previously worked at, along with all the shitty, embarrassing leadership decisions that were made across the board, and for better or worse, it made me realize in hindsight all the stupidity of the people I once worked with before I even realized it was stupid. It also made me breath a huge sigh of relief that I am where I am today and at a company that I really, genuinely think is the best place I have worked to date. This place is not without problems, but it’s such a far cry from the places I’ve been employed at previously.

Thank goodness. Thank goodness.