The Founders Mentality

“How to overcome the predictable crisis of growth.”

As we wind down our final series of TCM Top Ten Reads, it has been difficult to narrow my top ten books in business to ten.  This book was destined to make the list when I first read it after being published in 2016.  There are many different perspectives when confronted with the age-old challenge of how to grow a company.  This book focuses on how to create “scalable growth,” avoiding the pitfalls of size while maintaining the “Founders Mentality” of insurgency or relentless focus on the things that matter most: our customers and our front lines! 

“Managers do things right, Leaders do the right things.”  

“If you don’t have a dream, then it can’t come true.”

“Sometimes the hardest materials are forged in the hottest crucibles.”

These are just a handful of memorable quotes from the authors Chris Zook & James Allen, two co-leads of Bain Capital’s Global Capital strategy practice.  The book is full of well-documented company experiences, over ten years of research, and lessons learned from large and small firms across various industries.  The book describes the “Founder’s Mentality” as behaviors embodying a bold, ambitious founder focused on speed and customer connection.  The “Founder’s Mentality” identifies three fundamental tenants:

• An insurgent’s clear mission and purpose

• An unambiguous owner’s mindset

• A relentless obsession with the front line

The book details how successful companies found, lost, and often rediscovered their “roots” by leveraging their growth for good, scale, and improved efficiency rather than becoming complex and overly bureaucratic (as often happens with growth and size).  It is fascinating to consider that growth creates complexity, and complexity kills growth. Successful companies emphasize accountability, cash flows, the customer, and the front lines.  

Key attributes of the “scale insurgent” companies include what the authors call “spikiness” or how companies differentiate themselves.  Empowerment of the front lines, especially in making decisions, follows a “bias for action” that allows growing organizations to improve continuously.  Successful companies strongly oppose bureaucracy, fighting complexity as they grow and scale.  Scale insurgents are obsessive about supporting the front lines and actively listening to the customer. 

The concepts in this book are not new, especially when viewed through the lens of “The Founder.”  The idea of renewing our perspective to that of The Founder is unique and compelling.  As most companies focus on growth, they do not anticipate or address the forces at work to impede or slow the growth, and they often lack the courage to address issues related to accountability and complexity.  

This book is worthy of a TCM Top Ten, a valuable read to help a company’s path toward self-awareness, common ambition, compelling vision, and improved judgment.