Topic
Leadership
Every resource in the archive tagged with leadership.
41 resources
EssayDon't Fuck Up the Culture
Brian Chesky
Apr 2014 · 3 min read
Why culture matters more than anything else — the letter Chesky sent the entire Airbnb team in 2013.
EssayGuide to Big Companies: Retaining great people
Marc Andreessen
Jul 2007 · 12 min read
How big companies lose their best people, and what it takes to keep them.
VideoSteve Jobs on Focus
Various Founders
Sep 1997 · 3 min
Steve Jobs's philosophy on the power of saying no and eliminating distractions to achieve excellence.
EssayCEOs Should Tell It Like It Is
Ben Horowitz
Jul 2010 · 11 min read
CEOs who hide bad news destroy trust and prevent their best people from solving hard problems.
EssayMaking Yourself a CEO
Ben Horowitz
Oct 2012 · 12 min read
Being a CEO requires mastering unnatural skills, especially the foundational practice of giving honest, authentic feedback.
EssayManaging Your Own Psychology
Ben Horowitz
Mar 2011 · 16 min read
Managing your own psychology is the hardest CEO skill, harder than organizational design or hiring, because everything wrong is your fault.
EssayHow Things Get Done
Sam Altman
3 min read
Things get done through focus on two or three priorities and strong personal relationships.
EssayEmployee Retention
Sam Altman
5 min read
Why keeping early employees matters more than hiring them, and three strategies that actually work.
EssayHow to Hire
Sam Altman
12 min read
Hiring is the most important thing a founder does; spend a third to half your time doing it well.
VideoJony Ive recounts the time Steve Jobs called him vain
Jony Ive
Mar 2026 · 1 min read
Caring what people think of you masks vanity; the work matters more than your reputation.
VideoMark Zuckerberg: “You can’t 80/20 everything”
Mark Zuckerberg
Mar 2026 · 1 min read
Why some problems demand 100% of the work — you can't 80/20 everything.
VideoKeith Rabois on how to identify great talent
Keith Rabois
Mar 2026 · 1 min read
How to spot great talent: expand each person's responsibilities until they break.
VideoSam Altman explains how he decides to invest in a startup after 10 minutes
Sam Altman
Mar 2026 · 1 min read
What a 10-minute YC interview reveals about a founder's potential.
VideoMarc Andreessen on the 5 personality traits of an innovator
Marc Andreessen
Mar 2026 · 1 min read
The five personality traits that separate true innovators from everyone else.
VideoSteve Jobs explains the importance of both thinking and doing
Steve Jobs
Mar 2026 · 1 min read
Why the people who change industries are thinkers and doers in one person.
EssayHiring Executives
Ben Horowitz
Oct 2010 · 15 min read
How to hire executives for roles you've never done yourself.
EssayWhy Startups Should Train Their People
Ben Horowitz
May 2010 · 10 min read
Training your employees is one of the highest-leverage activities you can perform as a manager.
EssayWhy We Prefer Founding CEOs
Ben Horowitz
Apr 2010 · 16 min read
Founding CEOs outperform professional CEOs at running technology companies because they innovate better.
EssayThe Case for the Fat Startup
Ben Horowitz
Mar 2010 · 13 min read
Running lean is a tactic, not an end; sometimes heavy investment in R&D and product wins the market despite cash constraints.
EssayHow to Minimize Politics in Your Company
Ben Horowitz
Aug 2010 · 15 min read
Even self-proclaimed apolitical CEOs encourage political behavior in their companies.
EssayLead Bullets
Ben Horowitz
Nov 2011 · 7 min read
When facing an existential threat, stop looking for clever shortcuts and do the hard work to fix your core problem.
EssayA Good Place to Work
Ben Horowitz
Aug 2012 · 12 min read
Good companies survive crises because employees stay when they like their work, making culture an end in itself.
EssayThe Struggle
Ben Horowitz
Jun 2012 · 10 min read
The Struggle is when you know you’re in over your head, but you can’t be replaced.
EssayPeacetime CEO / Wartime CEO
Ben Horowitz
Apr 2011 · 11 min read
In peacetime, it’s all about growth.
Letter2020 Letter to Shareholders — Farewell
Jeff Bezos
Apr 2021 · 25 min read
Real value creation is measured by wealth generated for all stakeholders—not just shareholders—and innovation is the root of it all.
Letter2018 Letter to Shareholders
Jeff Bezos
Apr 2019 · 18 min read
Bezos arguing that risk-taking, not just revenue, must scale with company size.
Letter2016 Letter to Shareholders — Day 1
Jeff Bezos
Apr 2017 · 8 min read
Four practices to prevent organizational stagnation: customer obsession, rejecting proxies, embracing trends, and fast decision-making.
EssayFast
Patrick Collison
7 min read
Teams once built cities and planes in months; today the same projects take decades due to regulatory complexity.
EssayJudgment
Naval Ravikant
Apr 2019 · 6 min read
Why judgment becomes your most important asset once you have leverage.
EssayWhat I Wish Someone Had Told Me
Sam Altman
1 min read
How to start and scale ambitious things: recruiting, focus, speed, conviction, and fighting bureaucracy.
EssayHow To Invest In Startups
Sam Altman
9 min read
How to succeed as a startup investor by accessing deals, picking great founders, and getting them to choose you.
EssayStartup Playbook
Sam Altman
34 min read
A founder's guide to the core elements of starting a successful startup: idea, team, product, and execution.
EssayHow to Hire the Best People You've Ever Worked With
Marc Andreessen
Jun 2007 · 12 min read
Drive, curiosity, and ethics matter more than raw intelligence when hiring the best people for a startup.
EssayGuide to Startups, Part 9: How to hire a professional CEO
Marc Andreessen
Aug 2007 · 1 min read
Don't hire a professional CEO if no one on your founding team can do it—sell instead.
EssayGuide to Startups, Part 8: Hiring, managing, promoting, and firing executives
Marc Andreessen
Aug 2007 · 16 min read
How to hire, manage, promote, and fire executives at a startup, with specific guidelines for each stage.
EssayThe Top Idea in Your Mind
Paul Graham
Sep 2022 · 10 min read
Founders misjudge which problems matter most, but rapid focus on the vital few—measured weekly—accelerates everything.
EssayHow You Know
Paul Graham
May 2003 · 25 min read
Why startups beat incumbents in design wars: design-by-committee deliberately trades away upside to avoid downside.
EssayMean People Fail
Paul Graham
Nov 2014 · 5 min read
Meanness correlates with startup failure because it costs you talent and prevents the transcendent thinking startups require.
EssayFounder Mode
Paul Graham
Sep 2024 · 5 min read
Founder mode—how founders run companies—works better than manager mode, the standard advice they're given.
EssayMaker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule
Paul Graham
Jul 2009 · 5 min read
Two incompatible ways to use time: the maker's schedule and the manager's schedule.
EssayGuide to Startups, Part 1: Why not to do a startup
Marc Andreessen
Jun 2007 · 10 min read
The emotional, logistical, and interpersonal reasons why starting a company is much harder than most people realize.