The controversial attribute of legendary founders

Mika Mazor credit: Tamar Matsafi
Mika Mazor credit: Tamar Matsafi

Ahead of Globes Family Companies Conference on September 4, this article discusses the characteristic of founders that leads to great achievements but makes life difficult for those around them.

The author advises and leads the activities of LGA in Israel

Sam Walton, the man who founded the world's biggest retail chain, and was also the richest person in the US, had an obsession - to know what the customer really wanted, to cut prices by several cents, to understand what was missing from shelves and respond accordingly, himself.

They say that even when he was over 60, he would visit rival stores. Just him, a small yellow notebook, and curious eyes.

He would measure the width of the cornflakes shelf, write down the price of toilet paper, talk to the cashier about the flow of customers. He wouldn't buy anything, just write down, ask, observe.

Then executives at Walmart headquarters would receive a fax: "The competition has cut the price of washing detergent and we have been left behind."

These obsessions are frequently what give birth to the greatest successes. But is it possible to succeed without obsession? And how do you keep it from taking over everything?

We tend to talk about founders as business superheroes: visionaries, endless charisma, and uncompromising determination. Legendary figures who built empires. Behind the aura are sometimes hidden characteristics that are uncomfortable to talk about:

Many of the legendary founders are totally committed, obsessive, restless people who are misunderstood by those around them, making life very difficult for others and for themselves.

However, these characteristics, which many of us perceive as problematic, are the forces that set the wheels in motion and make the impossible possible.

In this article, I will focus on these characteristics, which can be unpleasant and are not talked about, in order to show the power contained in them, and how it is possible to channel them in a way that allows growth and healthy continuity.

Obsessiveness towards the business

Most of the founders lived and breathed their business in a completely obsessive way.

Sam Walton genuinely believed that the customer was the real boss, who could fire you at any moment by choosing to shop elsewhere. Unlike most of his managers, Walton's "customer obsession" wasn't a slogan, it was a way of life.

He wanted to know how each customer felt, what didn't work in each shopping experience, why a particular pair of shoes was returned. If a customer complained about shoes that didn't fit, even if they had already worn them, Walton demanded that they be replaced immediately. "If the customer isn't happy, that's a sign that we've failed. That's not an option."

Such founders have an internal engine. Action is oxygen to them, and they don't understand why others don't run as fast and with same determination as they do. This engine propels the business forward, forcing it to evolve and adapt to the changing environment. Their obsession usually leads to success. They do everything, at any cost, to make the business succeed.

But, obviously, it also exacts a heavy toll on people (the founders themselves and those around them) and the systems they have created. People around them are word down by their pace and find it hard to withstand the constant pressure.

Endless appetite which is insatiable

Founders have an endless appetite and are always striving for more. Howard Schultz, the man who built Starbucks, wanted to start a coffee shop chain that would feel like a second home. Not just another fast-food, brightly lit American diner. He wanted a place where people would feel a sense of belonging, a home away from home, like the neighborhood cafes he had seen in Italy.

But when he approached investors, they didn’t understand what he wanted from them. "An Italian cafe? In America? Which sells espresso for $3?" He received rejection after rejection. He heard the word "no" 240 times. Each "no" only sharpened his inner "yes." He didn’t give up. Not because he was sure he would succeed, but because he simply couldn’t give up on the dream.

It wasn’t brilliant planning. It was a drive, an endless appetite to turn a vision into reality.

The flipside of the coin is, often, an inability to feel satisfaction for more than a second. Their minds are always on the next thing. People like this don't stop to celebrate successes, because in their experience it's never sufficient.

This is a situation that can be discouraging to those around them and is sometimes interpreted as thanklessness.

Standards that it is impossible to live up to

For these founders, the demand for excellence doesn’t end with the product or service. They don’t just demand high performance, they demand perfection. Their inner drive makes them workhorses and they expect others to do the same.

Sam Walton wanted his managers to feel like owners and act like him, so he gave 25% of profits to managers so they would "act like owners." He wanted them to feel like every screw in the store was theirs.

Howard Schultz, for his part, expected uncompromising excellence from every employee. His motto was "Success is not an entitlement, you have to earn it every day." Every customer, every espresso, every smile had to be perfect. Excellence wasn’t a target, it was the foundation.

When Starbucks underwent a severe crisis and was in existential danger, Schultz called all the company's managers to a special meeting and explained to them that the company needed to go back to basics: Every employee must know how to make good coffee, treat every customer who entered the store to the best possible experience every time.

He turned employees into partners in the journey by ensuring that they had social rights that no employer in the food and beverage sector had ever thought of granting.

But when the expectation is to constantly meet such high standards, it is difficult to maintain them over the long term. When an enterprise operates as if everyone is on steroids 24/7, it is very difficult to manage a healthy organizational system in the long term.

Total commitment: They are the business and the business is them

Marcus Wallenberg, the third generation of the Wallenberg family, which controls about 40% of the Swedish economy, is an outstanding example of a person who does not distinguish between the company and himself. His wife, who didn't understand it, has told him time and again, "Life is not just business." But for him that is exactly what it is.

For these founders, the workplace is their identity, their hobby, their passion, and their profession. It is a source of self-fulfillment and, in many cases, it is also the only place where they feel essential and irreplaceable.

Their total commitment brings with it an extraordinary strength to overcome crises, to recruit people, and to run forward even when it is difficult.

But this commitment also involves heavy personal costs. Family members feel that their time, emotions, and presence are less important than the bottom line or the board meeting. The feeling is sometimes that the founder is married to the company he founded, and that everything else is a second priority.

And when the moment comes to think about continuity, it is almost impossible. It is difficult for them to relinquish control, not only because of a lack of trust in others, but also because in a deep sense it is giving up a part of themselves. In a sense, they are convinced that they will live forever in their role as leaders of the enterprise (which is the same as themselves or a part of them, just like another child to them).

Sam Walton tried to pass on the reins. He promoted David Glass, a brilliant and dedicated manager he had himself nurtured, understanding that the time had come for the next generation and fearing losing his successor talent, if he didn’t give him the lead. But in practice, Walton couldn’t disengage. He continued to obsessively visit stores, comment, ask questions, hold the reins behind the scenes. He couldn’t let go. And when you are unable to leave behind your role, even when the time comes, you jeopardize those who come after you and the business itself.

A true "passing on the torch" is not just a business process. It’s an emotional process. It requires the founder to let go not only of the baton, but also of the need to be the one holding responsibility for everything. It requires trusting the successors, letting go of the feeling that "the business is me," and allowing it to become a separate, living, evolving entity.

The solution: Leadership of two truths

The characteristics we described above, on the surface, sound like a recipe for personal and organizational disaster. But here lies the secret: each such characteristic is also a tremendous strength. Difficulties are not fate. You can harness the "crazy" and create healthy balance and growth.

The key is to learn to adopt an approach called "ambidextrous leadership," or simply put, balanced leadership. At LAG, we call it - leadership of two truths.

Many founders have been aware of these characteristics and the pitfalls they entail and have made sure to surround themselves with people who would complement and balance them or learned to adopt complementary qualities that sound contradictory but can actually be held simultaneously (just as we know how to use both of our hands, even if we have one dominant hand).

Founders and leaders do not have to give up on themselves to minimize the damage of their personal tendencies. They can be both: driven by contagious obsession, and able to stop and balance where necessary. Both act intuitively and listen. Both demand high standards and make sure that there is someone who will pay attention to the here and now and to people.

This is precisely leadership of two truths. It is not a technique, it is a worldview, which originates from theories of organizational ambidexterity. It is the ability to simultaneously hold opposing approaches, such as innovation and preservation, rapid action and discretion, control and letting go - without giving up any of them.

Founders who succeed in developing self-awareness and listening, using strategic partners who balance their automatons, and building mechanisms that will bridge and complete their gaps, succeed in building robust and sustainable systems over time that will also be able to pass on to future generations.

1. To identify the automaton: Ask yourselves: Why do I always respond in the same way? What triggers me? When do I force my way instead of allowing a shared compass? Self-awareness is the first step.

2. To create a balanced system: Bring someone else into the room that balances you out, who doesn't always agree with you. Who will ask the right questions. Sometimes, just knowing that there is someone like that in the room changes the way you think and reminds you that there is more than one right way.

3. To plan continuity: You need to understand the difficulty of planning for the future, but you shouldn't shy away from it. Eventually, even the most impressive and talented founders will have to part ways with the business. It's very important to think of planning as something long-term that will allow you to build a secure and stable future for the business and the family in small steps.

I believe that we can enhance ourselves as leaders, develop and change. Not only to survive, but also to emerge from the process stronger, more united, with new clarity and a better ability to prepare for the future.

Founders don't need to quell the fire inside them, they just need to learn to control it. Because in the end, great founders are not measured only by what they built, they are measured mainly by what they left behind. The greatest of them leave behind not only a successful business, they leave behind a path, a worldview, inspiration. And when that happens, they are no longer just founders of a business. They are founders of a legacy that is much bigger than themselves.

Full disclosure: The Globes Family Companies Conference will be held in collaboration with LGA, KPMG Israel, Julius Baer, Hamilton Lane Israel and the GAC law firm.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 27, 2025.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.

Mika Mazor credit: Tamar Matsafi
Mika Mazor credit: Tamar Matsafi
Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018