From Founder to CEO: The Owner Mindset | Tory Burch Foundation

Here’s an all-too-familiar founder trap: mistaking busyness for business. You’re mired in the day-to-day, overworked and overextended—but that’s entrepreneurship, right? Someone has to get things done, and your name is on the proverbial door. 

Think again. That’s exactly how you get stuck. Or burned out. “You’re just giving yourself a job,” said business advisor and growth strategist Kareen Zahr, “and not building a company as an asset to fuel your life.” 

Zahr experienced this firsthand. “I thought I had to be the one doing everything,” she recalled. “But that’s the suffering-for-success model that a lot of us were trained in. My business wasn’t scaling—or had hit a limit—and I had to assess my role. I had to shift.”

Here, as part of our webinar series, Zahr shared her playbook for making that transition, from operator to owner, one practical step at a time. 

REFRAME YOUR MINDSET.

Before you adjust how you work, you have to change how you think about your role. Begin with three questions:

What’s your vision for your business? 

Be descriptive. Why did you build it? What does success look like? What would be the ideal exit? “You want to start thinking more holistically around your goals in order to be strategic about what you step into,” Zahr explained. 

What lights you up the most? 

Identify the work that brings you the most joy, and lean into it. Make that 90 percent of your time, then build the systems, teams and tactics to handle the rest. Zahr called this the 90/10 mindset, adding a reminder to leverage AI where you can. “Minimal effort, maximum reward,” she said.  

Who do you have to become to lead this? 

With the above answers in mind, think through what needs to change to get you there. “Sit in that energy,” said Zahr. “Write down the characteristics of who you have to become to lead in that vision. I guarantee you have all the skills.”

“This was the biggest move I made in my own journey,” added Zahr, who set a goal of earning seven figures using only 10 percent of her time. “I changed my approach and the activities I was doing in my business, and I accomplished seven figures in six months. That’s how much I was in my own way of what was possible.” 

THE C.E.O. CONUNDRUM.

According to Zahr, there are three core roles in every business: the creator (the ideas person), the entrepreneur (the revenue driver) and the operator (the executor).

If you’re doing the job of all three, or even two, problems arise—what she termed the C.E.O. Conundrum. You become frustrated and stretched thin, constantly reacting instead of leading. “You’re misaligned,” she said. “Delegate things off your plate that aren’t meant for you, so you can create the room to do more as the owner.” For solopreneurs, this is especially critical. 

Not sure where you land? Zahr provided this handy exercise to help you identify where your innate gifts lie. 

THE 5-STEP OWNER METHOD.

Now, put Zahr’s framework into practice: every week, dedicate 30 minutes a day to one of the five areas below. If this feels like too much at first, start with one, then slowly stack the rest. 

1. Strategic Vision and Performance Management

Gauge if the business is headed in the right direction: where are you headed and are you on track? 

“Did you do what you set out to do?” Zahr continued. “What traction have you made? What have you learned? What do you need to shift next week to move toward it?” 

This lets you course-correct early—or, as she noted, “lean even harder into action that’s winning.” 

2. Revenue-Generating Activities

Examine your revenue streams. Are they delivering results? Is your money being managed the right way? Has an investment gone awry? If you’re too much in the weeds to carve out time for sales and growth, Zahr cuts to the chase: “You’re an expense to your company. Are you doing enough to make money moves?”  

3. Team Leadership and Communication

How are you supporting your team? Do they get enough information from you? Are you a bottleneck—or are there gaps to fill? Get feedback.

If employees default to you for every decision, you’re the problem. “You created the environment,” Zahr explained. “Maybe you were the operator for so long that the training and education didn’t happen for them to feel empowered.” The solve is a coaching stance—ask what they think and give them the chance to own it themselves. 

Incorporate scorecard assessments, too, to evaluate not just performance but how employees fit in your company culture. Allow for self-assessments and manager reviews—just don’t handle them all yourself. Zahr stressed that a founder should have no more than four direct reports at any given time.

On Advisors

Before bringing in outside help, map out where you could use support. Be strategic based on your goals—too many advisors “create noise,” said Zahr. Know where you have gaps and fill those roles. Once you hit the next stage of growth, reevaluate the relationship. “You don’t have to sustain the same advisor forever,” she pointed out.

4. Personal Growth and Mindset Management

This is the check-in to ensure you’re sticking to Zahr’s 90/10 mindset. Develop the skills to become the leader your business needs. Listen to a podcast, read a book or talk to an advisor—anything that will enhance your personal growth. “If you’re not growing,” she reminded, “your business won’t grow.” 

5. Client and Customer Experience

How can you increase client value and retention? Look at all angles, every touchpoint, both for existing and potential customers. Examine the data. What’s working? What’s not?

As you move from operator to owner, your clients should see that shift too. If you allow them to contact you 24/7, you’ve set the expectation. “You created that behavior,” Zahr said. “You decide and communicate the boundaries of your service.” If there’s an emergency, charge an emergency fee. 

And, yes, you can reset relationships with longstanding clients—or end them altogether. “It’s a controversial statement because we all want to chase the dollar,” continued Zahr, who admitted to firing several clients herself. Simply explain how your services going forward are no longer a fit for their needs.

DEALING WITH BURNOUT.

Even with the right framework, the transition from operator to owner isn’t easy—busyness has a way of pulling you back in. “If you’re constantly running and trying to tie your shoes at the same time, you’re going to trip over yourself,” said Zahr.

The solution: pause (“we don’t pause enough”) and assess the situation.

• What’s going well? Celebrate the positives “to raise your vibration,” she said. 
• What do you need to stop doing? 
• What do you need to start doing in service of your goal, e.g., delegating a task?
• Commit to one action by a specific date. 

Most founders feel overwhelmed when they’re not in control and this “actionable pause,” as Zahr called it, is how you take it back.