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 85% of the challenges to growth are internal—proliferating processes and bureaucracy, loss of accountability, and increasing distance from the front lines, to name a few. More crucial is their finding that companies experience a set of predictable internal crises, at predictable stages, as they grow. If not managed properly, these crises can stifle even the healthiest company’s ability to grow further—and actively lead it into decline.

"Fascinating and worth noting."

The key insight from Zook and Allen’s research is that managing these choke points requires a “founder’s mentality” to restore speed, focus, and connection to customers. The Founder’s Mentality^® consists of three behaviors typically embodied by a bold, ambitious founder: an insurgent’s mission, an owner’s mindset and an obsession with the front line.

Based on the authors’ decade-long study of companies in more than forty countries, The Founder’s Mentality identifies a profound connection between these three traits and a company’s 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.

Learn more about the Founder's Mentality >