Title: Founder's Syndrome: How Corporations Suffer -- and Can Recover
Headings: Founder's Syndrome: How Corporations Suffer -- and Can Recover
Founder's Syndrome: How Corporations Suffer -- and Can Recover
Introduction
Table of Contents
Preface
Founders' Syndrome: During Tenure of Founder
Transitioning to a New Chief Executive
Appendix A - Procedure for Transitioning to a New Chief Executive
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Preface
Founders' Syndrome: During Tenure of Founder
A Typical Problem Among Small Organizations
Some Troublesome Traits Among Founders
Typical Traits of Well-Developed Leaders
Basic Principles in Developing Leadership
Actions Boards Must Take
Actions Founders Must Take
Actions Staff Might Take
Summary
Transitioning to a New Chief Executive
Founder's Syndrome: When New Chief Executive Replaces Founder
Symptoms Depend On Nature of Founder
Typical Symptoms
Actions Boards Must Take
Actions New Chief Executive Must Take Before Taking the Job
Actions New Chief Executive Must Take After Taking the Job
What if Founder Left Organization in a Mess?
Appendix A -
Procedure for Transitioning to a New Chief Executive
Current Chief Executive's Notification to Board
Confidentiality
Board Preparation
Administrative Preparation
Interim Coordination Between Board and Staff
Hiring the New Chief Executive
Orienting the New Chief Executive
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For the Category of Leadership:

Content: React to most problems with the lament "if only I had more money." · In the case of nonprofits, executive directors attend mostly to fundraising and generating new ideas for services. · Hand-pick their Board members and staff. See these people as working for the founder as much as working for the organization's mission. · Attract Board members through founder's dynamic, often charismatic personality -- not through focus on organization's mission. · Count on whomever seems most loyal and accessible, and motivate by fear and guilt, often without realizing it. · Hold occasional staff meetings to report crises and rally the troops. · In the case of nonprofits, executive directors usually see their Boards mostly as a source for fundraising, and work to remove Board members who disagrees with founder. · Have a very difficult time letting go of the strategies that worked to quickly grow the organization, despite evidence that the organization can no longer absorb this rapid growth without major changes. · Ultimately, Founders Syndrome sets in because the organization becomes dependent, not on the systems and structures of the organization, but on the unique style of the leader -- whether the leader is consistently decisive or consistently indecisive.