Being CEO requires lots of unnatural motion. From an anthropological standpoint, it is natural to do things that make people like you—it enhances your chances for survival. Yet to be a good CEO, in order to be liked in the long run, you must do many things that will upset people in the short run.

Giving feedback is the unnatural atomic building block atop which the entire skill set of management gets built. If you can't casually evaluate performance and give feedback in the moment, then the harder motions—writing reviews, taking away territory, handling politics, setting comp, firing people—will be impossible or handled poorly.

The Shit Sandwich (compliment, criticism, compliment) works on junior employees but backfires with senior ones. Horowitz once delivered a carefully crafted one to a senior exec who replied: 'Spare me the compliment, Ben, and just tell me what I did wrong.'

Watered-down feedback can be worse than no feedback at all because it's deceptive and confusing. If a presentation sucks, don't say 'it's good but tighten the conclusion'—say 'I couldn't follow it and here's why.' Be direct, but not mean: feedback is a dialogue, not a monologue.

As CEO, have an opinion on absolutely everything—every forecast, every product plan, every comment—and say it. High-frequency feedback makes feedback stop feeling personal in your company, because nobody is left wondering 'what did she really mean by that?'

High quality company cultures get their cue from data networking routing protocols: bad news travels fast and good news travels slowly. Low quality cultures take on the personality of the Wicked Witch of the East in The Wiz: 'Don't nobody bring me no bad news.'

Don't get personal. If you decide to fire somebody, fire her. Don't prepare her to get fired—prepare her to succeed. And never clown people in front of their peers; the only effect is shame and resentment, not change.

If you're a founder CEO who feels awkward or incompetent doing these things and can't imagine handling it at 100 or 1,000 people—welcome to the club. That's exactly how every CEO Horowitz has met felt. This is the process. This is how you get made.