The Founder's Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth

Great book. Reminds me of Management by Wondering Around. Chris and Jim really get right to the point how to keep a company growing in the right direction as opposed to just acquiring randomly for growth, which never really works in the long term. (Sears, Kmart, ITT)

As mindset is one of my current areas of interest and research, the reference to mindset in the materials I saw about this book is what initially caught my attention. I bought the book on that basis. I found the book to be well researched and written. The book certainly kept me engaged throughout. I found the case study examples provided to be illustrious, helpful and interesting. Even though I am a non-business person, I am very glad I read this book. I was particularly struck by the fact that most businesses fail or get in trouble due to internal conditions, rather than external market related issues. Given that I work in the employee wellbeing space, this was particularly valuable information for me to learn. From my perspective, I think the authors did a great job describing the issues and potential solutions to each. Since these are described by the other reviewers, I will not repeat them here. I am definitely glad I decided to read this book. My challenge now is to figure out how to best apply my new learnings in the employee health, wellness and wellbeing work I do.

A great reminder on how to develope and persist with a Founder's Mentality. The authors examples and charts were most relevant and beneficial. Highly recommended.

I had read all of Christopher Zook's earlier books, and was strongly influenced by his thinking in his Profit from the Core and Beyond the Core books. Having been away from running a public company, Pitney Bowes, for more than a decade, I only wish I had the benefit of the insights from this book when I was running the company. I particularly like his suggestions about how to deal with "free fall" situations, which Pitney Bowes experienced after I retired because of a "black swan" event, the precipitous decline in letter mail because of the severe, rapid contraction consumer credit from the 2008 Financial Crisis. The authors also focus well on practical suggestions to inject the energy of founders into large, seemingly mature organizations. Their suggestions on tapping the wisdom of those close to the customer and the ways of doing so are practical, strategic, and well supported by stories and examples. Their suggestions about how to aggregate founder and innovator insights to give them maximum power are also noteworthy. The book is concise, well-organized, well-written, and, yet, multi-layered in its thinking. I recommend this book not only for people trying to lead businesses, but anyone trying to breathe more life into non-profits, educational institutions, or government-controlled organizations. It is a gem.

This is not a bad book but is not particularly good either. A lot of cases are covered. However, the originality aspect is lacking. I feel that the authors' previous books are superior.

The “The Founder’s Mentality” can be a helpful resource for people at all levels within an organization—associates (particularly today’s Millennials) to CEOs—as it highlights the need for employees to comprehensively adopt an “owner’s mindset”, including boldly sharing ideas, taking ownership of and pride in one’s responsibilities, and (perhaps most importantly) being accountable for one’s work. That way, all employees feel closely connected to their company, and the leaders can more nimbly pivot to keep the company competitive and focused. All concepts, trends, and examples are backed by 30 yrs of robust Bain & Company data. As such, you’ll find in The Founder’s Mentality that Zook and Allen not only sharply identify the problem areas of growth, but they also clearly delineate concrete strategies and actionable tactics leaders can apply to overcome Overload, Stall-out, and Free Fall. After all, leaders must be the “guardians of speed and agility” in order to combat these three diseases that almost always plague growing companies. “The Founder’s Mentality” is written clearly and concisely with illustrative, interesting case studies. My key takeaways from the book are to continue to actively listen, challenge myself to speak-up with ideas (even if they seem completely against the grain of the company), and never become too distanced from the front-line experience.

I wouldn’t choose the book for myself, as someone commented on Goodreads, it’s a book for work (meaning boring), read Chapter 6, and skip the rest. But I have to thank for a recommendation. Thinking about the practical application it shifted my focus to things long overlooked and forgotten but still hidden deep under layers of leadership experience clutter. What I got out of reading Founder’s Mentality is — 1st: investing in competence development and trimming at a time when it feels natural to focus on profit and 2nd: learning new skills when you’re under the most pressure by workload. Thanks for the reminder of what it was like at the beginning before the original enthusiasm has somehow diminished and I’ve moved forward and shifted in my life. Thanks also for reminding me that only 1 out of 10 insurgents will survive, and of that complexity kills growth. I also liked the comparison of a Manager and a Leader, Speed ​​and Agility, the D person problem on committees as well as the problem of balkanization (apparently not only in customers but also in teams).

社員が長く定着してくれるようになるためにも、重要な内容だと思います

This book simply demonstrates that as fantastic growth can be, the complexity that it creates can slowly reverse the wonderful model that the original founder created. Whilst this book gives great focus and insights into founders and leaders success stories, it is actually useful to anyone in a company who can simply embrace its guiding principles.

Sehr gutes Buch mit vielen Praxishinweisen. Wenn man in einem Gründergeführten Unternehmen arbeitet, dann kann man vieles noch besser verstehen. Nutzt es für eure Teams und wenn ihr ein wenig mehr Founders Mentality erwecken könnt, dann habt ihr viel gewonnen

Good and practical insights that boost your ideas to come up! Highly recommended also the diagnostic survey to measure the business status of your company

This book is a must-read for anyone involved in a business. It applies to small, medium and large businesses and focuses on the inside rather than the outside of the company. It is full of examples and insights on how to cross the many chasms companies face as they mature. It is short, intense and well documented. Highly recommended.