Learn 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 handbook 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 Common Wealth company:
• From founder to next-generation leadership
• From sole ownership to widely shared
• From hierarchical control to democratic management
• From unprotected mission to preserved purpose
• From business-as-usual to B Corp force for good
From 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 U.S. 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.
Circa l’autore
John Abrams founded South Mountain Company in 1973 and served as its president and CEO until 2022. It has become a leader in integrated architecture, engineering, building, and solar. It has also become a leader in successfully practicing worker ownership, leadership transition, social mission innovation, and preservation of company purpose. Abrams is connected to dozens of the organizations whose members are audiences for this book, including B Lab, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, American Sustainable Business Network, Business for America, and Ashoka. He is author of Companies We Keep, which has sold 10, 000+ copies.