Founders Are Not Afraid of Change, But for the Right Reasons

Change in any company can be challenging – especially when the company is on the emerging spectrum. When in a smaller company, those changes are felt throughout and can sometimes cause stress. However, based on my hundreds of conversations with founders (and thousands of conversations in my head), I am more and more convinced that founders change for the ultimate good of the team, not to create stress or frustration.

A few months ago, I had a conversation with a very successful founder. What I love about my conversations with this particular founder is that whenever I have them, I always feel like he gets me. He understands the pain points and struggles that I am going through as a founder and also has been through many of those same challenges before.

This last conversation with him really struck me. He talked to me about taking control of his expectations – saying that for far too long he listened to other’s opinions, trying to create happiness for a select few rather than trusting his gut and creating growth solutions for the future.

When he talked about following his gut, I listened. While I had heard this advice before, it never really resonated like it did in this conversation. What he was saying was not that he took control – rather that the company had lost a little bit of its heartbeat. That heartbeat is essential to the possibility of greatness.

Founders, in many business cases, are those hearts. They are the ones who think about the business 24/7 – constantly challenging themselves for greatness. When businesses are sold, often times that heartbeat slowly dies. This is when founders get back involved, like Steve Jobs and Howard Schultz. That heartbeat is essential until the business has proven it can beat on its own.

There is something crazy about founders. They all have this crazy ambition for excellence. Perhaps that’s more of the entrepreneurial spirit; regardless, it is in all of us.

When focused on ambitions and change for the greater good, founders can do a better job at a few things – such as communicating the why, reinforcing the core values and ensuring the structural support of the organization is sound. By doing so, the people who have to experience the changes are set-up for as much success as humanly possible.

When the communication breaks down, the team can sometimes look at situations as half empty. That is dangerous for the culture and can lead to the creation of office cancer or slow the possibility of growth.

While the founders are the heartbeat of many companies, they do need a team. Without a great team, the founder is simply an unexecuted idea. That is dangerous.

Founders are not afraid of change because they want to make the business better for you. They don’t change for them, they change for their teams. They know the value of those teams. They also sometimes get caught up in the people versus the system. But, in most cases, I believe, the intentions are in the right place.

Founders aren’t afraid of change, but they do need to do their best to communicate the why. If they do so, the team should believe in the mission and vision. With a great team, a founder can turn that idea into an amazing thing.