From Founder to Future
A Business Roadmap to Impact, Longevity, and Employee Ownership
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Award-winning guide to transitioning leadership and creating lasting business impact.
Winner of the NYC Big Book Award in Business-Entrepreneurship & Small Business and silver winner of the Nonfiction Book Awards, this acclaimed handbook shows you how to transition leadership, implement shared ownership, and preserve your organization's core values—setting the stage for your business to thrive for generations to come.
This visionary but practical guide offers mission-driven business owners a roadmap for ensuring their company's lasting impact, building leadership internally, and fostering participatory management. Through inspiring real-world stories of B Corps, worker co-ops, ESOPs, and employee ownership trusts, this book demonstrates how to create resilient organizations that benefit workers and communities.
Drawing on his 50-year journey with South Mountain Company and extensive research, Abrams outlines five critical transitions for mission-driven businesses to become what he calls a CommonWealth company:
From founder to next-generation leadershipFrom sole ownership to widely sharedFrom hierarchical control to democratic managementFrom unprotected mission to preserved purposeFrom business-as-usual to B Corp force for goodFrom Founder to Future is an essential guide for mission-driven leaders seeking to reshape their businesses for inclusivity, longevity, and positive impact. Whether you're a retiring owner planning your exit, a young entrepreneur building for the future, or an employee working in a purpose-driven business, this book offers a blueprint for creating enduring, values-driven enterprises in the emerging regenerative economy.
As 3,000,000 US small business founders over 55 prepare to retire, $10 trillion in assets will change hands over the next two decades. This timely guide shows how to preserve your company's mission and legacy while empowering the next generation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"When workers are sailing on the ship that they've built and charting its course, great things can happen to the economy, our democracy, and the quality of people's lives," asserts Abrams (Companies We Keep) in this standout guide to a more democratic workplace. He encourages businesses to become a "CommonWealth company," one that focuses on the common good. Becoming one requires five transitions: from proprietary ownership to "widely shared"; from "original" leadership to "next generation"; from an "unprotected" to a "permanent" mission; from top-down control to democratic; and into a certified B Corp. He offers plenty of guidance for each—the concrete steps he outlines for becoming employee-owned include creating a value proposal and a steering committee, for example. Though he's a strong advocate for co-ops, Abrams also presents a fair share of alternatives, including employee stock ownership plans and employee ownership trusts. Along the way, he draws on his experience with the architecture and energy firm he cofounded in 1973 and transformed into a worker co-op in 1987. Zealous without being preachy, Abrams makes a solid case that small businesses can "spread wealth more equitably." The result is a must-read for business owners looking to put more power in the hands of employees.
