Lessons from Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks

On Leadership and Management

"I've realized part of my job is to get people to do their best work, not tell them what to do." [1]
"If you're a mercurial leader who changes his mind on a dime, who behaves unpredictably...after a while people end up in two different scenarios. One is that they have to get your approval for every single decision...Or alternately they get scared." [2]
"Don't tell people what to do, tell them why you're doing it. And what outcome you want." [3]
"We all get to where we get to...by being individually excellent...[but as a manager] your task is not to do a great job yourself, your task is to get the same level of quality on three people that are going to work for you." [4]
"I think culture for me is that, and that's the way to build a culture. It's not rocket science, but a lot of the time you see leaders thinking, oh, there's so many people. I don't have time to listen to all of them, so I'm just not going to listen to any of them." [1]
"You only have to convince one set of people at any point in time to get a job in order to convince the rest of the world." [1]
"I don't see myself as someone trying to push the envelope. I see myself as somebody trying to get stuff done." [5]
"My board structure is very functional, very expertise oriented." [2]
"You're always known by your last act...your past success...helps you get the job. But...the question is how are you going to keep it and how are you doing amazing at it and that requires you to go back to basics." [6]
"If you don't have domain expertise, then it's critical that the other skills you bring to the table are world-class." [2]

On Business and Strategy

"If you don't build a great product, your company will eventually die." [7]
"One of the hardest things to do is to change a strategy that is working." [8]
"Our market entry strategy has always been to enter categories at their inflection point, and we believe that moment for Identity Security is now." [9]
"I don't like competitive markets. I find in a customer acquisition costs to hire your retention is lower it takes more in terms of brand spend it takes better product marketing...you have less pricing power." [4]
"If you find a market where nobody wants to build a product, you're either a genius or totally stupid." [4]
"If you're looking for a 10, 20% improvement, don't bother, because things are about to move 10x." [10]
"You don't have to be first; you have to be smart." [7]
"Ethics is table stakes for a good business." [5]
"Our review on Acquisitions is we buy Innovation we buy product we buy early because if you buy later you're paying multiples for Revenue which I don't believe." [4]

On Cybersecurity

"The bad actor has to be right once, and we have to be right 100% of the time. That's hard to do." [11]
"Cybersecurity is a growing market. The more we rely on technology, the more our attack surface expands." [7]
"When you think about cyber security think about cyber resilience...the possibility that you can get attacked hacked or brought down to your knees is reasonably high." [11]
"The future wars will be fought both in the digital battlefield and the physical one." [11]

On Technology and Innovation

"The wave of technology that's coming will enable people to build businesses faster, with greater agility, using fewer people, and with a fundamental rethinking of how things are done." [10]
"Every technology has a good side and potential for misuse or abuse if it's not implemented right." [13]
"The future of security must be built on the vision that every identity requires the right level of privilege controls." [12]

On Career and Personal Growth

"Scarcity encourages you to be resourceful. It allows you to do a lot more with a lot less." [1]
"Every job you get into, you bring 50 percent of the skills you need, and you learn the other 50 percent if you're lucky enough." [5]
"I sent 400-plus applications and got rejected 400-plus times. I saved all the rejection letters. They're my motivation." [7]
"Go out there and live outside your comfort zone...If you don't jump you're not going to land on your feet." [15]
"Learn how to keep saying yes, embrace yes, don't say no. Once you say yes you always have the option of saying no later. When you say no it's very hard to go back and say yes." [15]
"I've never been able to settle with status quo...I've actually never had a plan charted out." [2]
"As you leave here...make sure you bring joy to others through your work. Your most profound joy will come from them." [7]
"Give the world what it doesn't even know it needs." [7]
"If you see it as a problem, it is a problem. If you find a flaw, go out and fix it. If you believe it's missing, go out and invent it." [7]
"You cannot make progress if you're not willing to solve problems of scale. You have to laugh at the impossible." [7]
"As we grow older, we're taught the concept of work. Work has to be serious and boring. If you're having too much fun at work, you're not working." [7]
"I want to make a difference. I want to leave a legacy. I want to inspire people. That's my why." [5]
"You can tell if people are genuine or not (on the golf course). It's very hard to fake your personality for five hours; golf is a very frustrating sport." [5]
"I only invest in founders who are willing to be my friends, hang out with me and build large companies." [5]
"Don't take life too seriously focus on making sure that you're going to enjoy it it's going to work out for you and it's going to work out for everybody else." [3]
"The softest pillow is a clear conscience." [3]

Learn more:

Lessons from Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks

On Leadership and Management

On Business and Strategy

On Technology and Innovation

On Career and Personal Growth

Written by Antoine Buteau

Lessons from Adam Gross

Lessons from Scott Belsky