Founder's Mentality: The CEO Sessions

What are the costs of not daring to make a change?  
  
Jacqueline Novogratz is the Founder & CEO of Acumen, an organisation that invests patient capital in enterprises working to reduce poverty around the world. In 2021, she took a $250 million risk when she set out to provide electricity to 75 million people in regions of sub-Saharan Africa that had a 45% electrification rate or below. It paid off.  
  
Join host Jimmy Allen of Bain & Company and Jacqueline as they discuss what we can learn from creative risk taking, how to balance socioeconomic tensions without compromising the mission, and how transforming our mentality from “what if?” to “what if I don’t?” can open the door for positive change.  
  
Jacqueline and Jimmy emphasise the value of asking ‘why’ when navigating complexity as a leader. How can we ensure that we not only remember our ‘why’, but also that it is worth remembering in the first place?  
  
This is a conversation about embracing complexity, the power of asking ‘why’, and daring to take risks in the pursuit of positive change.  
  
https://www.bain.com/founders-mentality/  
  
EPISODE CHAPTERS 
00:00 Introduction 
01:21 The billion dollar plan 
02:45 Why Acumen started in the hardest location 
03:58 Securing the first funding - a $10 million bet on Jacqueline 
05:51 Starting and letting the work teach them 
08:37 Getting smarter through creative risk taking 
11:56 How Jacqueline balances her vision with specificity  
12:30 Using deep listening as a tool to understand complexity 
15:33 Closing allows Acumen to reflect on their ‘why’ 
16:37 Embracing complexity is what sets Acumen apart 
18:30 What does it take to master complexity? 
19:03 How rephrasing the question reminds us ‘why’ 
19:36 What is Acumen’s ‘why’ 
20:34 The importance of having the right ‘why’ 
22:11 How Jacqueline approaches complexity 
23:07 Embracing tension, rejecting compromise 
24:40 Advice for ambitious young leaders 
26:19 Jacqueline’s message 
  
LINKS 
A Case for Complexity - Jimmy Allen - Blog [https://tinyurl.com/acaseforcomplexity] 
Bain & Company LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/bain-and-company/] 
Bain & Company X [https://x.com/BainandCompany] 
Jimmy Allen LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-allen-3442b/] 
Jacqueline Novogratz LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-novogratz/] 
  
About the Host:  
Jimmy Allen is an Advisory Partner at Bain & Company with over 35 years’ experience advising leading organizations. He’s the author of multiple best-selling books on growth and leadership and the host and founder of Bain’s Global CEO Community Forum. Jimmy is a regular speaker at global business events, including the World Economic Forum, and serves on the Botswana Economic Advisory Council. Outside of consulting, Jimmy started his own record label [Abubilla Music] in 2008 and supports Singing Wells, a project dedicated to preserving Kenyan village music.

What does it take to back a decision that may take years to prove itself? 
  
Soon after becoming CEO of Stryker, Kevin Lobo backed a $1.6 billion acquisition of Mako, a loss-making robotics company many customers, investors and industry experts believed was unnecessary. The deal would reshape both orthopedic surgery and Stryker’s growth trajectory. 
  
Join host Jimmy Allen of Bain & Company as Kevin explains why he saw asymmetric upside in robotic-assisted surgery, how he sustained his conviction through disappointing early results, and how one bold bet became the foundation for a repeatable acquisition model spanning more than 60 deals. 
  
Kevin and Jimmy also explore the tension between autonomy and scale. How do you capture the advantages of size without inviting bureaucracy? What should remain decentralized, and where can shared capabilities create a real edge? 
  
This is a conversation about repeatable growth, the cost of complexity, and the CEO’s role in helping leaders think like founders. 
  
https://www.bain.com/founders-mentality/ 
  
LINKS 
Ask for Help - Jimmy Allen - Blog [https://shorturl.at/qvzxe] 
Bain & Company LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/bain-and-company/] 
Bain & Company X [https://x.com/BainandCompany] 
Jimmy Allen LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-allen-3442b/] 
Kevin Lobo LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinalobo/] 

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:35) - The potential in robotics that no else saw

(02:27) - Taking the $1.6 billion proposal to the board

(03:28) - Why Stryker had to act immediately

(05:48) - The hard part begins after the board says yes

(06:36) - Telling Wall Street about the slow first quarter

(08:05) - Leading through the time lag

(08:32) - Winning over employees and building M&A credibility

(09:37) - Cold-calling Larry Culp, former CEO of Danaher, for advice

(10:18) - Turning mistakes into an integration playbook

(11:16) - Discovering the "Stryker way”

(13:09) - Are you the right parent for the company you acquire?

(15:12) - Building a repeatable acquisition machine

(17:09) - The outer game and inner game of growth

(18:14) - Preserving autonomy across 22 business units

(20:21) - Good complexity versus bad complexity

(21:00) - What is the CEO's job in a decentralized company?

(22:52) - Creating a team of entrepreneurs

(24:18) - The real meaning of conviction

 
About the Host: 
Jimmy Allen is an Advisory Partner at Bain & Company with over 35 years’ experience advising leading organizations. He’s the author of multiple best-selling books on growth and leadership and the host and founder of Bain’s Global CEO Community Forum. Jimmy is a regular speaker at global business events, including the World Economic Forum, and serves on the Botswana Economic Advisory Council. Outside of consulting, Jimmy started his own record label [Abubilla Music] in 2008 and supports Singing Wells, a project dedicated to preserving Kenyan village music. 
  
Bain & Company: 
Founder’s Mentality: The CEO Sessions is brought to you by Bain & Company, a global consultancy trusted by the world’s most influential business leaders. With decades of experience guiding organizations through growth, transformation, and leadership development, Bain’s executive insights offer what it takes to lead at scale.

Before a strategy becomes a success story, it's a judgement call.

For 35 years, Jimmy Allen has been in the room with the world's most consequential CEOs, and this season, he's bringing you inside those conversations.
Twelve leaders. Twelve moments that tested everything they thought they knew about leading. And one question that keeps coming back: it's not just what the CEO should do. It's who the CEO needs to become.

Founder's Mentality: The CEO Sessions, Season Two. Launches July 7th.
Join the Conversation:
To learn more check out the Founders Mentality website or our CEO Insights hub: 
https://www.bain.com/founders-mentality/
https://www.bain.com/insights/topics/ceo-agenda

Links: 
Bain & Company LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/bain-and-company/) 
Bain & Company X (https://x.com/BainandCompany) 
Jimmy Allen LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-allen-3442b/) 

About the Host:
Jimmy Allen is an Advisory Partner at Bain & Company with over 35 years’ experience advising leading organizations. He’s the author of multiple best-selling books on growth and leadership and the host and founder of Bain’s Global CEO Community Forum. Jimmy is a regular speaker at global business events, including the World Economic Forum, and serves on the Botswana Economic Advisory Council. Outside of consulting, Jimmy started his own record label (Abubilla Music) in 2008 and supports Singing Wells, a project dedicated to preserving Kenyan village music.

Bain & Company:
Founder’s Mentality: The CEO Sessions is brought to you by Bain & Company, a global consultancy trusted by the world’s most influential business leaders. With decades of experience guiding organizations through growth, transformation, and leadership development, Bain’s executive insights offer what it takes to lead at scale.

As this season of Founder’s Mentality: The CEO Sessions comes to a close, we take a step back to ask the question that has driven every conversation: how do you lead and grow in an era of turbulence?
In this season finale, host Jimmy Allen revisits the season’s most powerful insights from the leaders of global brands and high-growth innovators, uncovering the new rules of scaling. You’ll hear from founders and CEOs who have mastered the balance between the outer game of strategy and the inner game of leadership, and how they sustain their energy in a role that never stops demanding more.

From Pizza Hut’s Aaron Powell reigniting pride in the product, to Walmart China’s Christina Zhu turning routines into joy, to Mercado Libre’s Marcos Galperin on culture, competition, and resilience, this episode gathers lessons from leaders who refuse to let complexity kill growth. Alongside them, voices like Don Katz, Sunny Verghese, Tanuja Randery, Stuart Gent, David Haines, and Pedro Arnt reveal how simplicity, focus, and relevance can turn turbulence into momentum.

Whether you’ve followed every episode or you’re just joining for the highlights, this is your crash course in the season’s biggest ideas and a blueprint for leading at scale, grounded in clarity, powered by purpose, and built to weather even the fiercest storms.
Join the Conversation:
To learn more check out the Founders Mentality website or our CEO Insights hub: https://www.bain.com/founders-mentality/
https://www.bain.com/insights/topics/ceo-agenda

Learn More: 
The Changing Nature of Strategy: Reflections on Thirty Years - Article (https://www.bain.com/insights/the-changing-nature-of-strategy-reflections-on-thirty-years-fm-blog/)

Bain & Company LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/bain-and-company/) 
Bain & Company X (https://x.com/BainandCompany) 
Jimmy Allen LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-allen-3442b/) 

About Founders Mentality
Founder’s Mentality: The CEO Sessions is a leadership podcast hosted by executive advisor and bestselling author Jimmy Allen. 

Each episode features candid conversations with top CEOs, from Audible to Walmart to AWS, as well as artists, comedians, and other unconventional thinkers. Together, they share the lessons that shaped their growth, the “aha” moments that redefined their work, and the surprising ways reinvention happens at every level. 

Whether you’re a CEO, an aspiring leader, or simply curious about leadership, influence, and business at scale, this podcast will challenge and inspire you, one story at a time.

About the Host:
Jimmy Allen is an Advisory Partner at Bain & Company with over 35 years’ experience advising leading organizations. He’s the author of multiple best-selling books on growth and leadership and the host and founder of Bain’s Global CEO Community Forum. Jimmy is a regular speaker at global business events, including the World Economic Forum, and serves on the Botswana Economic Advisory Council. Outside of consulting, Jimmy started his own record label (Abubilla Music) in 2008 and supports Singing Wells, a project dedicated to preserving Kenyan village music.

Bain & Company:
Founder’s Mentality: The CEO Sessions is brought to you by Bain & Company, a global consultancy trusted by the world’s most influential business leaders. With decades of experience guiding organizations through growth, transformation, and leadership development, Bain’s executive insights offer what it takes to lead at scale.

What does it really take to stay relevant when the world refuses to stand still?
In this episode, Jimmy Allen sits down with Marcos Galperin, Founder and Executive Chairman of Mercado Libre, and Chris Zook, Advisory Partner at Bain & Company and co-author of Profit from the Core and The Founder’s Mentality, to explore what it really takes to keep growing when the rules of strategy are being rewritten.

From a garage in Buenos Aires to a $100B powerhouse, Marcos shares how Mercado Libre became Latin America’s e-commerce titan, outpacing global rivals and thriving through calm and storm alike. He opens up about the personal sacrifices behind building at scale, what it means to lead at 24/7 intensity, and how competition, culture, and constant reinvention have kept Meli’s spirit alive.

Chris brings decades of deep research into what separates companies that sustain profitable growth from those that stall, revealing why most failures don’t come from markets, but from losing touch with the core that made them great. He shows how  rediscovering an insurgent mission, a frontline obsession, and an owner’s mindset can reignite growth from the inside out.

Together, they unpack the brutal truth of sustainable success: that strategy alone won’t save you. It takes energy, resilience, and an ability to deliver and develop at once, optimizing today while inventing tomorrow. This conversation is a masterclass in balancing the outer game of performance with the inner game of purpose, and a reminder that the best CEOs don’t just manage complexity. They master it.

Join the Conversation:
To learn more check out the Founders Mentality website or our CEO Insights hub: https://www.bain.com/founders-mentality/
https://www.bain.com/insights/topics/ceo-agenda

Learn More: 
Escaladores - Podcast Series (https://podcasts.apple.com/ar/podcast/escaladores/id1692216304)
The Founder's Mentality Defined (https://www.bain.com/founders-mentality/about/)
Profit from the Core - Book (https://www.bain.com/insights/books/profit-from-the-core/)
Founder's Mentality® and the paths to sustainable growth - Video (https://www.bain.com/insights/what-is-founders-mentality-video/)
Get Your Mojo Back with the Founder's Mentality® - Video (https://www.bain.com/insights/get-your-mojo-back-with-the-founders-mentality-video/)
Barriers and Pathways to Sustainable Growth: Harnessing the Power of the Founder's Mentality - Article (https://www.bain.com/insights/founders-mentality-barriers-and-pathways-to-sustainable-growth/)
Reigniting Growth - Article (https://www.bain.com/insights/strategies-for-corporate-growth/)
The Lost Engines of Growth - Article (https://www.bain.com/insights/the-lost-engines-of-growth-fm-blog/)

Bain & Company LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/bain-and-company/) 
Bain & Company X (https://x.com/BainandCompany) 
Jimmy Allen LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-allen-3442b/) 
David Haines LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-j-haines)
Iona Gaskell LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/iona-gaskell/)

About Founders Mentality
Founder’s Mentality: The CEO Sessions is a leadership podcast hosted by executive advisor and bestselling author Jimmy Allen. 

Each episode features candid conversations with top CEOs, from Audible to Walmart to AWS, as well as artists, comedians, and other unconventional thinkers. Together, they share the lessons that shaped their growth, the “aha” moments that redefined their work, and the surprising ways reinvention happens at every level. 

Whether you’re a CEO, an aspiring leader, or simply curious about leadership, influence, and business at scale, this podcast will challenge and inspire you, one story at a time.

About the Host:
Jimmy Allen is an Advisory Partner at Bain & Company with over 35 years’ experience advising leading organizations. He’s the author of multiple best-selling books on growth and leadership and the host and founder of Bain’s Global CEO Community Forum. Jimmy is a regular speaker at global business events, including the World Economic Forum, and serves on the Botswana Economic Advisory Council. Outside of consulting, Jimmy started his own record label (Abubilla Music) in 2008 and supports Singing Wells, a project dedicated to preserving Kenyan village music.

Bain & Company:
Founder’s Mentality: The CEO Sessions is brought to you by Bain & Company, a global consultancy trusted by the world’s most influential business leaders. With decades of experience guiding organizations through growth, transformation, and leadership development, Bain’s executive insights offer what it takes to lead at scale.