Ben Horowitz

Ben Horowitz is a cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz. Previously, he cofounded and led Opsware, formerly Loudcloud. His books include The Hard Thing About Hard Things and What You Do Is Who You Are.

Horowitz’s writing connects empowerment to the practical design of work. In an essay on scaling companies, he explains that specialization creates handoffs and gaps in shared knowledge, making organizational design and communication processes more important. In his foreword to a 2015 edition of Andrew S. Grove’s High Output Management, he describes why managers should provide hands-on training for someone new to a particular task and delegate more as that person gains capability. For this article, his contribution is a management perspective: moving responsibility can help only if people have the support and communication needed to deliver acceptable work. His writing does not establish a measured productivity gain from delegation alone.