Short summary
Key points
A founder is both a mindset and a call to action, you have to accept the responsibility that comes with it and act as a founder would
Your mindset isn’t all that is required, now you also must act like a founder, take on the role and play it to perfection. This means doing and saying the things that are characteristic of a founder. As a founder, your work isn’t simple, it is a grand privilege; a mission that is greater than just you, something that supersedes your own need for relevance.
You must think of your role, position, work as a calling. It should mean more to you than just a job. It will help you rationalize the struggles that come with it, when you realize that it is a service to mankind, a task that is greater than your limitations or fears.
When an employee is tasked with the knowledge that his/her failures or successes will be assessed and judged by himself first, that kind of freedom encourages them to do their best, since they are doing it for themselves. It takes a great deal of trust to let your employees be responsible for their own actions and results because it can all go south and you’ll be left to deal with it. But it has been shown by the people over at Google that encouraging employees to handle more responsibility is a wise move and presents more benefits even.
Being a founder/leader isn’t shouting orders, going home with the biggest checks, the real sign of a good leader is the ability to reciprocate himself in those he leads. At Google, certain portions of the firm work independently of the head, almost autonomous and their projects are funded internally. They are given enough trust, authority and freedom to operate independently and they produce great results as a result.
A company that can run on such a principle is going to be greatly successful because while there is a common goal amongst employees, there are various ways to achieve it, that way there’s little risk of the company failing altogether if they had stuck to one philosophy or product.