Why is profitable growth so hard to achieve and sustain? Most executives
manage their companies as if the solution to that problem lies in the
external environment - find an attractive market, formulate the right
strategy, win new customers. But when Bain & Company's Chris Zook and
James Allen (authors of the best-selling Profit from the Core)
researched this question, they found that when companies fail to achieve
their growth targets, 90 percent of the time the root causes are
internal, not external - increasing distance from the front lines, loss
of accountability, proliferating processes and bureaucracy, to name only
a few. What's more, companies experience a set of predictable internal
crises, at predictable stages, as they grow. Even for healthy companies,
these crises, if not managed properly, stifle the ability to grow
further - and can actively lead to decline.
The key insight from Zook and Allen's research is that managing these
choke points requires a "founder's mentality" - behaviors typically
embodied by a bold, ambitious founder - to restore the speed, focus, and
connection to customers, all of which are lost as companies grow:
- An insurgent's clear mission and purpose
- An unambiguous owner mind-set
- A relentless obsession with the front line
Based on the authors' decade-long study of companies in more than 40
countries, The Founder's Mentality demonstrates the strong
relationship between these three traits in companies of all kinds - not
just start-ups - and their ability to sustain performance. Through rich
analysis and inspiring examples, this book shows how any leader - not
only a founder - can instill and leverage a founder's mentality
throughout their organization and find lasting, profitable growth.
