The Founder's Mentality

How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth

By: Chris Zook, James Allen

Narrated by: Robert Feifar

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 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.

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:

- An insurgent's clear mission and purpose

- An unambiguous owner mindset

- A relentless obsession with the front line

Through rich analysis and inspiring examples, this book shows how any leader can instill and leverage a founder's mentality throughout their organization and find lasting, profitable growth.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2016 Bain & Company, Inc. (P)2024 Ascent Audio

The relevance to so many old and new companies alike. It is a timeless book that will likely never age!

It is a great book that allowed me to see the references that i have experienced myself. I would suggest a netflix documentary to complement this book with a visual version. Would go hand in hand so nice.

Very good book an business leadership,

This is a very good book on overall business leadership. I rank it below Good to Great, but above several others.
I found the evidence, examples and concepts of Good to Great more concrete.
The narration is good.