Founder’s Syndrome. We all have heard about it and we know it when we see it, but what exactly is it? Well, let me describe a few of the symptoms of this all-too-common malady.

First, Founder’s Syndrome sufferers are not limited to founders. Any long-time successful leader is susceptible. By long-time, I mean someone who has been there so long that no one can remember the person before him or her, if there was one. As one of my kids said the other day: “Dad you’re so old, when you were in school they didn’t even have history!”

Regardless of the person’s tenure, they are seen as THE LEADER. Not the recent leader or the new leader or the latest leader, just THE LEADER. It is also essential that the person suffering from Founder’s Syndrome (the founder) be largely successful in their job. Success conveys power, which is essential to the condition. Describing someone as a long-time failed leader may sound like an oxymoron, but it is likely that such a person would not have much power or influence, which should inoculate him or her against the condition.

The next consideration is the founder’s self-view. The person with Founder’s Syndrome usually does not see much difference between him- or herself and the organization; it all kind of blurs. “What is good for me must be good for the organization” — is the mindset. This leads to a mixing of personal and professional motivations, and sometimes to improprieties

The next symptom is inflexibility. “If we have always done things a certain way, I don’t really want to hear about a better way. It doesn’t matter if it is better, it is just different so I don’t want to hear it.”

Founders with the condition usually have surrounded themselves with board members who are friends or sycophants. Over time, filling a board with such “friendlies” makes for a sinecure. It is very hard for an upstart movement to challenge, let alone oust, an incumbent who is surrounded by a lap dog board (no offense Cody). Anyone speaking up is usually ostracized, fired, or made miserable enough to leave.

The result of such a situation is usually less than optimal functioning on many levels, although the founder’s long term relationships may keep the money coming in. Negative results include high staff turnover, difficulty recruiting independent-minded board members, and a general level of misery in the organization’s offices.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 7:51 am and is filed under Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.