A Washington Post Bestseller Three Principles for Managing-and Avoiding-the Problems of Growth
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 bestselling 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 speed focus and connection to customers: . An
insurgent's clear mission and purpose . An unambiguous owner mindset . A relentless obsession
with the front line Based on the authors' decade-long study of companies in more than forty
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.
