DESIGN FOR CHANGE, NOT EQUILIBRIUM

After a launch, a big win, or a season of growth, it’s natural to feel like you can slow down and breathe a little. The dashboards look healthy, the cash flow is strong, and the business finally feels like it’s settled into a rhythm. For a moment, everything feels steady.

But that’s exactly when we need to be the most careful.

Equilibrium may feel rewarding, but it’s not the destination. When things are calm, it’s easy to get comfortable, and that’s when things start to slip.

Read more in Great Founders Design for Change, Not Equilibrium.

When we treat stability as a finish line, we risk losing everything we’ve worked so hard to build. As things begin to stabilize, we need to use that time to reassess, recalibrate, and prepare for what’s next.

PERSPECTIVES

“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive." — Andrew Grove, former CEO and Chairman of Intel

MARK MY WORDS

When we’re hitting our numbers and the team feels good about where we are, it’s natural to ease up a bit, but we can’t stay comfortable for too long. Stability is never the goal. It’s just a sign to look ahead and ask: What’s next?

It’s not about being cynical or pushing harder for the sake of it. It’s a chance to step back and take a closer look at the parts of the business we’ve been too busy to revisit. It’s also when we’re most likely to assume that what worked yesterday will keep working tomorrow.

I’m sure there have been times when my own team has thought, “Can’t we just slow down for a minute?” And I get it. But this is how we build something that keeps evolving — by pushing forward not just when we’re forced to, but while we still have the choice.

TUNE IN

How AI Is Transforming Work, Culture, and Leadership
AI is reshaping what it means to work. In this episode, Cole and I unpack how AI is transforming teams, tools, and leadership at Ninety and beyond.

You’ll learn:

• How AI is organically changing work across functions
• Why adoption varies across people and orgs
• What it means to lead through tech disruption

[Watch Now]

ON THE CALENDAR

Webinar: The Cost of Core Values Misalignment

Nov. 14 at 12:00 p.m. ET

Last chance to join this week’s webinar. 

Nearly 1,000 founders and leaders registered for the first session and asked for part 2. Now, Robert Glazer and I are back to talk about what happens when your team no longer reflects your values and how to realign.

[Register Now]

ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD

In case you missed it, here’s more from Founder’s Framework:

How Obsession Evolves with Your Company

In the next part of the Obsession Series, I explore how obsession shows up differently as your company scales and what it takes to keep that intensity aligned with each stage of growth.

[Read Now]

This track pushes against the gravity of comfort. It’s a call to move, to take risks, and to act before routine  turns into complacency.