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What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture Hardcover – October 29, 2019

by Ben Horowitz (Author), Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Foreword)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,802 ratings
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Ben Horowitz, a leading venture capitalist, modern management expert, and New York Times bestselling author, combines lessons both from history and from modern organizational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help executives build cultures that can weather both good and bad times.

Ben Horowitz has long been fascinated by history, and particularly by how people behave differently than you’d expect. The time and circumstances in which they were raised often shapes them―yet a few leaders have managed to shape their times. In What You Do Is Who You Are, he turns his attention to a question crucial to every organization: how do you create and sustain the culture you want?

To Horowitz, culture is how a company makes decisions. It is the set of assumptions employees use to resolve everyday problems: should I stay at the Red Roof Inn, or the Four Seasons? Should we discuss the color of this product for five minutes or thirty hours? If culture is not purposeful, it will be an accident or a mistake.

What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building―the leader of the only successful slave revolt, Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture; the Samurai, who ruled Japan for seven hundred years and shaped modern Japanese culture; Genghis Khan, who built the world’s largest empire; and Shaka Senghor, a man convicted of murder who ran the most formidable prison gang in the yard and ultimately transformed prison culture.

Horowitz connects these leadership examples to modern case-studies, including how Louverture’s cultural techniques were applied (or should have been) by Reed Hastings at Netflix, Travis Kalanick at Uber, and Hillary Clinton, and how Genghis Khan’s vision of cultural inclusiveness has parallels in the work of Don Thompson, the first African-American CEO of McDonalds, and of Maggie Wilderotter, the CEO who led Frontier Communications. Horowitz then offers guidance to help any company understand its own strategy and build a successful culture.

What You Do Is Who You Are is a journey through culture, from ancient to modern. Along the way, it answers a question fundamental to any organization: who are we? How do people talk about us when we’re not around? How do we treat our customers? Are we there for people in a pinch? Can we be trusted?

Who you are is not the values you list on the wall. It’s not what you say in company-wide meeting. It’s not your marketing campaign. It’s not even what you believe. Who you are is what you do. This book aims to help you do the things you need to become the kind of leader you want to be―and others want to follow.

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  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper Business
  4. Publication date
    October 29, 2019
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.97 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0062871331
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0062871336
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ben Horowitz is the cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley–based venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs building the next generation of leading technology companies. The firm's investments include Airbnb, GitHub, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Previously he was cofounder and CEO of Opsware, formerly Loudcloud, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007. Horowitz writes about his experiences and insights from his career as a computer science student, software engineer, cofounder, CEO, and investor in a blog that is read by nearly ten million people. He has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Fortune, the Economist, and Bloomberg Businessweek, among others. Horowitz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Felicia.



Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. An award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has authored or coauthored twenty-two books and created eighteen documentary films, including Finding Your Roots. His six-part PBS documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Program-Long Form, as well as a Peabody Award, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, and NAACP Image Award.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Business (October 29, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062871331
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062871336
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.97 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,802 ratings

About the author

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Ben Horowitz

Ben Horowitz

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Ben Horowitz is the cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs building the next generation of leading technology companies. The firm's investments include Airbnb, GitHub, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Previously, he was cofounder and CEO of Opsware, formerly Loudcloud, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007. Horowitz writes about his experiences and insights from his career as a computer science student, software engineer, cofounder, CEO, and investor in a blog that is read by nearly 10 million people. He has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Fortune, the Economist, and Bloomberg Businessweek, among others. Horowitz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Felicia.

Follow him on Twitter @bhorowitz and his blog, www.bhorowitz.com.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,802 global ratings
Building Culture as Do or Die Leadership Competency
5 Stars
Building Culture as Do or Die Leadership Competency
I had a chance to both hear Ben Horowitz discuss his inspiration and aims for the book as well as read the book. What this review is: it is a reflection of the parts of the book that resonated the most to me as CEO of an early stage B2B company. War analogies are HIGHLY relevant in this context. I almost felt like the book was written for me upon reading it. People working in other contexts, especially if their roles do not succeed or fail based on their company's culture, will not get as much out of this book. I did not agree with everything in the book even though I recommend it. Some cultures explored in this book I think are terrible, outdated, hypocritical and won't succeed tomorrow. This book is a buffet, feast what applies to you and leave the rest. There's plenty there. Employees at old and large legacy organizations may also not get as much out of this book. If you must build culture, you will find gems.Biggest lesson: the key is to have practices, virtues, and stories that illustrate them. You have to aggressively cultivate the culture daily.Excerpts from reading & hearing from the author of “What You Do is Who You Are” Ben Horowitz. Great tapestry of leadership lessons from diverse figures in history woven in with examples of culture from the tech sector.-There is no such thing as a perfect culture. At the same time, most cultures are hypocrisies & that’s not how it has to be. It all starts with CEO & C-suite, #board. It only matters what you do & your virtues.-Haitian revolution: How did they scale to 500K when the largest slave revolt in the U.S. was only 500? Answer: leadership-Ghengis Khan was a master of inclusion-You can't adopt someone else's culture. What worked for them probably won't work for you.On why you have to be YOURSELF:"Other people will always have ideas of what you should be, but if you try to integrate all those ideas in a way that's inconsistent with your own beliefs and personality, you will lose your mojo. If you aren't yourself, even you won't follow you.”Hi firm, Andreessen Horowitz measures employee candidates on helpfulness and that’s how they got to 52% female employees. Focus on job criteria. If you need someone who builds relationships, don’t screen for spreadsheet skills for example. Everyone should know exactly why each person is hired.
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Top reviews from the United States

Craig Carr
5.0 out of 5 stars My currently Favorite Business Book of all time
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2022
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Just because Ben Horowitz is a billionaire doesn't mean he can't write an amazing book that makes a significant difference to humanity! Seriously, as a consultant to leaders struggling with business culture issues that threaten their companies, each page of this book has new ideas and important perspective shifts, all backed up by stories of leaders (alive and ancient!) who figured it out. I've been consuming this book each day with my morning coffee, and its a great start. Thanks, Ben Horowitz.
4 people found this helpful
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R Scheese
4.0 out of 5 stars A unique examination of corporate culture
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2020
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Just finished Ben Horowitz's best seller "What You Do Is Who You Are". An examination of culture with practical advice on building the culture you desire.

The basic premise is that actions are louder than words. The real life and often personal examples Horowitz uses bear out this premise. What makes the book unique and thus compelling is the use of not typical corporate culture re-hashes. There are a few Apple and Amazon examples, but much of the book reflects on leading culture accomplishments such as the Haitian revolution, a prison gang, Genghis Khan and the Samurai code.

A solid business read for its unique perspective, historical lessons and practical counsel. Check it out.
One person found this helpful
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Juan Carlos Vargas
5.0 out of 5 stars must read
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2023
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If you are planning on beginning a start up, you are a general manager, CEO or a regular mid management you need to read this book. Definitely gives you a broad spectrum of the importance of the impact that culture has in any given organization. Shows you different styles, culture and you must achieve the one that fits you or your organization.
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Roger Grobler
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly practical
Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2019
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It is very hard to write about culture. There are many ways of achieving the same thing, and many very different cultures that will work, depending on the leader and the people inside the business. So to write about culture generally is very hard, but Ben brilliantly achieved this.

It is sometimes dangerous to retrospectively fit a story to the past to make it seem plausible. Narrative fallacy is the technical term for it. Ben does use stories to illustrates principles, and whether it is accurate or not is not really the point. It is refreshing to read non-conventional stories to illustrate culture, and I suspect the stories will also stand the test of time better (unlike Good to Great, where the examples used were undone by the companies themselves post the book).

Finally, I loved the (sometimes profane) rap lyrics at the start of every chapter. I could not always understand what the relevance was, but that does not really matter.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars High quality practical insight
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2019
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The book is full of practical advice on real-world dilemmas for build a fit-for-purpose company culture. The author synthesises the most dramatic historical cases with his own experience building a billion dollar company and advising other CEOs who built their own. The result is a riveting read and a brilliant guidebook. I finished the book in a week and I've already recommended it to two of my colleagues.
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Nathan S. Collier
4.0 out of 5 stars Hoary old technique: dredge up historical figures, project traits aligning w author's message
Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2019
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It's a good book, the reason it got 4 stars instead of 5 is that Ben (or his co/ghost author?) felt compelled to follow that hoary old technique of dredging up a handful of historical figures and projecting traits on to them that allow you to espouse the principles you wish to proclaim.

Lots of good stuff, just have to mine it out from all the filler
36 people found this helpful
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Kyle Wiering
3.0 out of 5 stars Drives home the point, repeatedly.
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2020
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The conclusions without the background, or at least with more condensed background would have been sufficient to convey the points.

Actual scenarios the author experienced were far more interesting then the historical context.

I also found it odd that the emulated cultures were all quite violent and bereft of compassion. Even the member of the staff referenced was quite brutal to subordinates.

In his own words, he talked primarily of "wartime [leaders] " . Not the alternative. But that is mostly beside the point. It was just distracting.
One person found this helpful
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Fatmonky
5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the most important book for leaders
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2019
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I read this, and think this is one of the most important books for managers and leaders (aspiring and future) to read, together with Grove's "High Output Management", Horowitz's other book "Hard Thing about Hard Things", and Mintzberg's "Simply Managing".
But I would say that this book trumps the others, because a culture is what makes an organization tick even if the leaders are not there. As leaders are the stewards and gardeners of the organization culture, this makes this book even more important than the others above.
16 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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C. Chen
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!
Reviewed in Canada on January 25, 2023
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This book analyzed corporate culture using various examples. What is it, how to implement it, risk/reward, leadership, etc.
While Hard Thing About Hard Things was good, but nothing exceptional, this book is unique and complets Collins books such as Build to Last and Good to Great. Overall an outstanding work.
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Kartikey Gupta
5.0 out of 5 stars Bice book
Reviewed in India on May 9, 2023
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Interesting stories on culture building in a organization or like case studies, kind off.
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Terry Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars what you do IS who you are
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2022
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The book demonstrates, through the simple title, that “your culture is how your company makes decisions when you’re not there.” That is, as a company, the behaviours we see far outweigh the slogans on the walls. Significant examples from many areas create discussion and exploration of the broad topic.

For any leaders that doesn’t yet recognise that their behaviours are more than half of the success in their own companies and teams, it is an essential read.
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Gabriel Arcari
5.0 out of 5 stars A narrativa e exemplos descritos por Horowitz são fantásticos. Gigantesca aula sobre cultura.
Reviewed in Brazil on November 20, 2019
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Esperei ansiosamente pelo lançamento deste livro. Após ler The Hard Thing About Hard Things, estive no aguardo de um outro livro do Ben Horowitz.
Em What You Do Is Who You Are, Ben demonstra que domina o assunto de Culturas Corporativas como poucos e inclusive ilustra o tema como vários exemplos históricos, o que agregou muito a narrativa.
Ao destrinchar como as maiores empresas do mundo adotaram ou deveriam ter adotado estratégias em cultura corporativa, Horowitz escreveu mais um livro que será uma bíblia para amantes de empreendedorismo e startups.
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Emanuel Fernandes
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!
Reviewed in Germany on December 7, 2020
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Ben Horowitz is the boss!
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