THIN AIR

Later today, one team will lift the World Cup. I'll be watching with the same anticipation I felt more than fifty years ago.

I've been in love with this tournament since the summer of '74 when a Dutch team came out of the sky playing a game I had never seen before. They called it Total Football. They lost the final, but they changed the game forever.

That’s part of what keeps drawing me back to the World Cup. Every tournament presents a different test, and the teams with the biggest names or the deepest pockets don’t always go the distance. The ones who make it to the end understand the conditions, adapt to the altitude, and remain true to who they are.

As founders, we're constantly playing at altitude. Our markets keep evolving, new competitors spring up out of nowhere and the conditions around us are always changing.

Read more in Thin Air: Lessons from the World Cup On Altitude, Attitude, and Winning Well.

The challenge is learning how to adjust without losing sight of our values or the kind of company we’re trying to build.

PERSPECTIVES

“Like the greats, you want to make your own story yourself, and not be a copy of another." — Kylian Mbappé

MARK MY WORDS

Past success only takes you so far when the conditions change. The strongest teams are the ones that can feel pressure, adjust to what’s in front of them, and still hold on to their standards.

The same is true in business. Plenty of companies can win for a season, and plenty of competitors can copy what they see working. But you’ll never build something great by copying what someone else has already built.

During France’s match against Paraguay, the game turned ugly. Paraguay relied on cheap shots and provocation to try to pull France away from how they wanted to play. But France adjusted to the moment without letting the other team dictate who they were going to be.

As founders, we face that same choice. You can spend your time reacting to your competitors, copying what seems to be working, and letting someone else set the pace. Or you can stay true to your values, follow your own vision, and build a company you’ll be proud to own years from now.

Winning is one challenge. Winning without losing sight of who you are is another.

Inside Ninety: Ask Maz

When the air gets thin, founders don't need more information. We already have plenty of it. We need help understanding what it means, spotting patterns, and using it to move the right work forward faster.

Ask Maz is Ninety’s AI companion, built to help founders connect the work already happening inside Ninety and get to the important conversations faster.

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ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD

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

How to Raise Your Leadership Altitude as Your Company Grows

As your company grows, your role has to grow with it. In this article, I share how founders can rise above the day-to-day, strengthen their leaders, and focus on the work only they can do.

[Read Now]

The way you respond when conditions change says more than the conditions themselves.