Eric Ries: Incorruptible

Eric Ries is the creator of the Lean Startup method, and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, The Leader’s Guide, and The Startup Way. Over the last two decades, his ideas about continuous innovation, long-term thinking, governance, and market reform have reshaped company building and management practices. He is the author of Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…and How Great Companies Stay Great (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

If you build a great organization, the predators will come. With the right principles in place, not only can you protect what you love, but help many people flourish because of it. In this conversation, Eric and I show you exactly where to start.

Key Points

• Most leaders are one acquisition, one IPO, one board meeting away from seeing something they love turn into something they hate.
• If you build something great, they will come. The “they” are the predators who are willing to kill the golden goose.
• Financial gravity is the force no one controls but everyone obeys. Appreciating its realities and laws will help you build stronger.
• Rather than framing profit as good or bad, define profit as how you contribute to human flourishing.
• Harder is easier. Rather than viewing principles as a burden, the best leaders see principles as opportunities.
• Design the business model so the organization prospers only via mission attainment.

Resources Mentioned

• Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…and How Great Companies Stay Great by Eric Ries (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• Doing Better Than Zero-Sum Thinking, with Renée Mauborgne (episode 641)
• Crafting the Modern Business Plan, with Seth Godin (episode 704)
• Notice Disruption and Innovate Through It, with Steve Blank (episode 761)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.