What’s YOUR team’s mentality? 

In the case of nearly every successful small business, there’s a story of a visionary founder with big dreams of making a difference. Those stories are the epitome of the American dream. Find a niche. Start a business. Become successful. And live happily ever after.

Your business likely has that story. But there are also the stories we don’t like to tell. The stories of how, somewhere between start-up and happily ever after, our growth complicated our businesses and caused challenges that weren’t quite so fun.

All businesses that survive start-up phase face these challenges. They’re inevitable. They’re predictable. And, in the thick of it, they can feel insurmountable.

But they’re not.

In their new book, The Founder’s Mentality, authors Chris Zook and James Allen explain this phenomenon quite succinctly. They say that growth leads to complexity, and that complexity stifles the very growth businesses are seeking. This, in turn, can lead to overload, stall-out, or worse, free fall for the business.

Depending on the maturity level of your business, you’ve either already experienced one of these symptoms, or it could be waiting for you around the next corner. The point of the book, however, is that while external forces like competition, recessions, or technological advancements can certainly exacerbate business woes, most headwinds we face are due to internal challenges that can be predicted, prevented and overcome.

How? By staying true to the founder’s mentality — the moral of your story of the American dream.

In this book, the authors create a compelling case for reinvigorating your business by fostering the mentality of the founder. They explain the dangers that business complexity creates: overload, stall-out and free-fall. They provide practical tactics for overcoming each of these issues. And best of all, they provide a leader’s guide to “infusing the founder’s mentality at all levels of your organization.”

This book, which was just published earlier this year, can be a great tool for you and your business. No matter where your business is at in its lifecycle, there are solid principles you can apply to your everyday business.

It’s the founding mission of your business and the blood, sweat and tears to support it that have led you to great success. Use this book to help your employees tune into that same passion so they can be motivated by the same insurgent mindset that helped you become successful in the first place.

Your start-up story is a great one. The story of how you overcame the challenges of growth can be, as well. This book will show you how.