Can a company’s founder be a great leader as well? Although one study found that companies run by founder-CEOs exhibited 9.3% lower productivity than those managed by hired CEOs, that’s not been my experience. In fact, I’ve discovered that plenty of founder-CEOs do a great job.

Are there challenges that are unique to founders who take the lead? Of course. After all, the founder versus CEO identity mismatch is a real phenomenon. However, the same attributes that make someone an exceptional entrepreneur can also make that person an exceptional senior executive.

For instance, founders are accustomed to taking bold risks; as CEOs, that same attribute can be a huge asset. The same goes for having strong instincts toward doing the “right” thing or making the “right” decision, especially in tough or uncertain situations.

The key takeaway is that founders can certainly become incredible CEOs. One way to improve your odds of organizational success is to always be learning new leadership lessons . Success doesn’t come from being a stagnant leader; it comes from constant learning and application. From my experience, I’ve found that success stems from first wanting to become a better leader, educating myself on what I can do to achieve that and applying those lessons directly.

1. Shift From Solving Problems Independently To Empowering Others

I greatly appreciate what Dena Jalbert of Align Business Advisory Services mentioned about how she views being a successful founder who became a CEO. Jalbert views leadership less as being the smartest or most powerful person in the room and more as creating an environment where capable people can do their best work. She also acknowledged that when she moved from trying to solve all of the problems herself to empowering other team members with trust and accountability, the business became stronger.

Jalbert makes the point that you need to begin letting go of many of your tasks . Otherwise, your business can remain overly dependent on you. If you’re the person holding your organization together year after year, you’re not building a self-sustaining business capable of achieving its goals without your constant involvement.

Of course, this requires humility, and it’s not untrue that some founders may find the transition difficult. However, as a founder myself who has let go of the need to have all the reins, I encourage you to develop strong people around you. The more capable your team becomes, the less your organization has to depend on you for every important decision.

2. Stay Grounded In Purpose While Scaling Operations

Another essential lesson comes from Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder and CEO of Chobani. As Ulukaya scaled his company from a shuttered yogurt plant into a multi-billion-dollar brand, he advocated for what he calls the “anti-CEO playbook.” His philosophy centers on prioritizing community , front-line workers and long-term purpose over short-term spreadsheet gains.

Ulukaya often emphasizes that scaling a business requires a leader to stay connected to the factory floor and the people who keep operations running. As a founder, I know how easy it is to get buried in high-level management and boardroom meetings as the business expands. But staying accessible to your workforce ensures your leadership decisions actually align with operational realities. When your team sees that you’re genuinely invested in their well-being, loyalty and performance follow naturally.

3. Model Resilience By Reframing Failure Across The Culture

Sara Blakely, the founder and former long-time CEO of Spanx, built a global apparel brand by redefining how her organization approaches mistakes. Blakely often shares how her father encouraged her at the dinner table to celebrate what she had failed at each week. That single mental shift removed the fear of trying new things—a mindset she later embedded across the entire corporate culture at Spanx.

As a leader, the way you react to missteps sets the tone for the entire team. Blakely has long advised leaders to share their vulnerabilities and missteps openly with their teams. When you show that failure is simply a necessary part of the learning curve, it removes the fear of making mistakes. That openness frees your people to innovate, take calculated risks and solve problems creatively.

Being the person others look to as an example can create pressure, but it also allows founders to shape how the organization operates. Consistently operating according to the standards you set can also make your expectations and decisions clearer to the people around you. And people around you begin to trust that you’re working for them.

If you’re a founder and you plan to remain your company’s CEO, you may need to reframe your approach as the business grows. Establish a framework that guides decisions, empower capable people to lead alongside you and model the standards you want the organization to maintain. Those shifts can help you move from being the person who built the company to the CEO who can lead it through its next stage of growth.