Founder's syndrome

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Founder's syndrome (also founderitis [1] [2] ) is the difficulty faced by organizations, and in particular young companies such as start-ups, where one or more founders maintain disproportionate power and influence following the effective initial establishment of the organization, leading to a wide range of problems. [3] [4] [5] [6] The syndrome occurs in both non-profit and for-profit organizations or companies.

Contents

Problem

The passion and charisma of the founder(s), often sources of the initial creativity and productivity of the organization, can become limiting or a destructive factor. [4] It may simply limit further growth and success, or it may lead to bitter factionalism and divisions as the scale of demands made on the organization increases, or it may result in outright failure. [7]

Symptoms

An organization suffering from founder's syndrome typically presents many of the following symptoms:

The founder responds to increasingly challenging issues by accentuating the above, leading to further difficulties. [29] Anyone who challenges this cycle will be treated as a disruptive influence and will be ignored, ridiculed or removed. The working environment will be increasingly difficult with decreasing trust. The organization becomes increasingly reactive, rather than proactive. Alternatively, the founder or the board may recognize the issue and take effective action. [30]

Responses

Novel management and leadership

There exists no single cure against founder's syndrome, as every new business endeavor is different, however companies (newly founded or larger organizations with internal groups) are providing new insights and answer to the problem. [8] [31] A good example for better managing is Gallup's 12: The Elements of Great Managing , which is a survey-based work or Google's re:Work project, which is available to internal managers and the public. [31]

Plan of action

Coping with founder's syndrome requires discussion of the problem, a plan of action, and interventions by the founder, the board, and/or by others involved in the organization. The objective of the plan should be to allow the organization to make a successful transition to a mature organizational model without damage to either the organization itself or the individuals concerned. [32]

Criticism

Further reading

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Greathouse, John. "Do You Have 'Founderitis'? In Denial? Check Out These 7 Symptoms". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  2. ↑ Kleibrink, Maryll (December 2004). "Diagnosis: Founderitis". Executive Update. ASAE. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  3. ↑ Adler, Carlye (8 May 2007). "Time to replace yourself". CNN Money. CNN. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Surviving Founder's Syndrome". National Resources Centre. Archived from the original on 2008-12-24. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  5. ↑ "Founder's Syndrome". BoardSource. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  6. ↑ Block, Stephen (June 2002). "Toward an Understanding of Founder's Syndrome: An Assessment of Power and Privilege Among Founders of NonProfit Organizations". Nonprofit Management and Leadership. 12 (4): 353–368. doi:10.1002/nml.12403 – via ResearchGate.
  7. ↑ Patel, Neil. "90% Of Startups Fail: Here's What You Need To Know About The 10%". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  8. 1 2 Ceaser, Donovon Keith (2018-10-02). "'Because the ego started to grow bigger than the project itself': a case study of founder's syndrome on an educational community of practise". Ethnography and Education. 13 (4): 459–476. doi:10.1080/17457823.2017.1384321. ISSN   1745-7823. S2CID   148925154.
  9. ↑ "WeWork and the dangers of founder ego". www.managementtoday.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  10. 1 2 3 "Rediagnosing "Founder's Syndrome": Moving Beyond Stereotypes to Improve Nonprofit Performance". Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly. 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  11. 1 2 3 Shah, Dave (2018-05-18). "3 Signs the Best Move for Your Business Is to Hire Somebody Else to Run It". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  12. ↑ Clifford, Catherine (2018-11-05). "Elon Musk: 'You're gonna go a little bonkers if you work 120 hours a week'". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  13. ↑ Shaw, Robert B. (2020). All in : how obsessive leaders achieve the extraordinary. [New York, New York]. ISBN   978-1-4002-1220-0. OCLC   1162784081.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ↑ Pells, David. "All In". PM World Journal. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  15. ↑ Organization, Entrepreneurs' (2020-02-21). "How to Cure Founder's Syndrome". Inc.com. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  16. ↑ Furr, Nathan. "Why Confident Entrepreneurs Fail: The Overconfidence Death Trap". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  17. ↑ Zhang, Stephen X.; Cueto, Javier (May 2017). "The Study of Bias in Entrepreneurship". Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. 41 (3): 419–454. doi:10.1111/etap.12212. ISSN   1042-2587. S2CID   146617323.
  18. ↑ Judkrue, A. (October 2010). "The transformational leadership factors influence global leaders". 2012 e-Leadership Conference on Sustainable e-Government and e- Business Innovations (E-LEADERSHIP). pp. 1–4. doi:10.1109/e-Leadership.2012.6524708. ISBN   978-1-4673-2980-4. S2CID   19675031.
  19. ↑ Comaford, Christine. "Jerry Yang, Reed Hastings, Mark Pincus and the Four Signs of Founderitis". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  20. ↑ "The Founder's Dilemma". Harvard Business Review. 2008-02-01. ISSN   0017-8012 . Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  21. ↑ "This SoftBank-Backed Startup Sought to Disrupt the Car Market. Instead, It Became a Poster Child for Disruption Gone Awry". Fortune. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  22. ↑ Shukla, Vikas (2020-03-10). "SoftBank's top 10 worst startup investments". ValueWalk. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  23. ↑ "Über den Lebenszyklus von Firmen". Avenir Suisse (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  24. 1 2 "Founder's Syndrome? Who me?". Help4NonProfits. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  25. ↑ Miller, Kelly (2019-07-25). "The Top 10 Marketing & Communications Mistakes Startup Founders Make — and How to Avoid Them". Medium. Retrieved 2019-08-18.
  26. ↑ "Beware: This Hippo Kills Your Company!". Corporate Rebels. 2018-12-06. Retrieved 2019-08-18.
  27. ↑ Silverberg, David (2017-04-20). "Why you need to question your hippo boss". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  28. ↑ Kromer, Tristan (2019-06-01). "The question index for real startups". Journal of Business Venturing Insights. 11: e00116. doi:10.1016/j.jbvi.2019.e00116. ISSN   2352-6734. S2CID   188822753.
  29. ↑ Adrenaline junkies and template zombies : understanding patterns of project behavior. Tom DeMarco. New York, NY: Dorset House Pub. 2008. ISBN   978-0-13-349228-6. OCLC   891469430.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  30. ↑ "re:Work - Postmortem culture: how you can learn from failure". rework.withgoogle.com. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  31. 1 2 "About re:Work". rework.withgoogle.com. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  32. ↑ "Founder's Syndrome: How Corporations Suffer -- and Can Recover". Free Management Library. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  33. ↑ Gerdeman, Diana (2018-07-17). "THE MOST SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS HAVE HANDS-ON FOUNDERS" . Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  34. ↑ Lebowitz, Shana. "Why Andreessen Horowitz bets on 'egomaniacal' and 'partly delusional' founders being the must successful". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-08-18.
  35. ↑ "10 Startup Founders Tell Us: The Best Advice I've Ever Received". The Muse. 8 January 2014. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  36. ↑ "Entrepreneurship and the Overconfidence Conundrum". 29 March 2019.
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