I was hosting an AI webinar for my organization, facing a virtual room filled with some of our nation's top minds, experts in their respective ecosystems who were visibly skeptical about AI. These weren't just any professionals; they were established authorities with decades of experience who saw AI as either a passing trend or a potential threat to their carefully cultivated expertise.

Twenty minutes into my presentation, the General Manager, who had been silently observing, unmuted himself and asked a question that shifted the entire atmosphere: "If this were your personal decision, not just a corporate initiative, how much AI implementation would you actually recommend for our organization?"

Time slowed. Sixty faces turned to me in their virtual squares. The question wasn't just about technology adoption, it was testing whether I thought like a cautious employee or a forward-thinking owner.

In the months prior, I had immersed myself in understanding AI's implications beyond the headlines. I researched how it was transforming adjacent industries, studied the strategic moves of leading organizations, and identified how it could address our specific operational pain points.

So rather than giving the politically safe answer about "measured adoption" that would have appeased the skeptical audience, I said: "If it were entirely my decision, I'd accelerate AI implementation across every possible process immediately. The organizations that don't fully embrace AI capabilities will be irrelevant within five years. It's not about replacing our expertise, it's about amplifying it and focusing our human intelligence on problems that actually require it."

The GM nodded thoughtfully while several senior experts visibly bristled.

The next morning, I received an email from the GM asking which AI workshops he should personally take and how he could start practicing with AI while waiting for formal training. And about a month later, I was nominated to join the Ministry of Finance nationwide AI experts network, a prestigious group tasked with breaking through bureaucratic red tape to accelerate AI implementation across the entire public sector.

Later, the GM told me: "Most people in your position would have given a more diplomatic answer. You thought like an owner concerned about our future relevance, not an employee worried about ruffling feathers. That perspective is exactly what we need."

That moment crystallized something I've observed throughout my career: the people who advance fastest don't just do their jobs well—they think like founders even when they're nowhere near the C-suite.

According to a 2023 Gallup study, only 23% of employees consistently demonstrate "ownership thinking" at work, yet these individuals are 4.3 times more likely to be promoted and 3.7 times more likely to be selected for high-visibility projects.

Research from Stanford's Graduate School of Business found that professionals who adopt founder-like thinking patterns—even in entry-level positions—advance 2.5 times faster than peers with similar technical abilities.

Here's why: Most people are trained to be excellent tacticians, not strategic business owners.

You were likely hired for specific skills and expertise. Your daily work probably centers around executing tasks, meeting deadlines, and achieving departmental goals. The organizational structure itself reinforces this compartmentalized thinking.

But founders and CEOs operate with a fundamentally different mindset. They must simultaneously:

This isn't about working 80-hour weeks or sacrificing your work-life balance. It's about adopting a different mental framework—one that transforms your value to the organization and accelerates your career trajectory.

Through research and real-world observation of professionals who advance rapidly despite starting in conventional roles, I've identified five critical mental shifts that differentiate founder-thinkers:

Employee mindset: "I completed everything on my to-do list." Founder mindset: "I delivered $X in value to the business today."

Consider marketing professionals who shift from simply executing campaigns to analyzing their impact. The best don't just send emails—they track conversion rates, test different approaches, and constantly optimize for business outcomes. When they report results, they don't focus on open rates but on revenue generated.

Professionals who consistently frame their work in terms of business value are significantly more likely to be promoted than those who focus solely on task completion.

Employee mindset: "Here's a problem I've identified." Founder mindset: "Here's a problem, three potential solutions, and my recommended approach."

Research consistently shows that solution-oriented employees receive higher performance ratings than equally competent problem-identifiers.

The pattern is consistent across industries: high-performers don't just identify issues—they investigate root causes, consider constraints, evaluate options, and present recommendations with clear rationales. They own problems end-to-end rather than passing them up the chain.

Employee mindset: "That's not my department." Founder mindset: "How does this connect to the broader business?"

Professionals who demonstrate cross-functional understanding are more likely to be included in strategic initiatives.

The most valuable team members make it their business to understand:

This broader perspective allows them to make decisions and suggestions that align with company-wide priorities rather than just departmental metrics.

Employee mindset: "How do I achieve this quarter's goals?" Founder mindset: "How does this decision look three years from now?"

Organizations with a long-term orientation consistently outperform their peers on earnings, revenue growth, and market capitalization.

This same principle applies at the individual level. The professionals who stand out are those who consider second and third-order effects of decisions. They might recommend against a short-term win if it creates long-term vulnerabilities, or advocate for investments that won't show immediate returns but build lasting competitive advantage.

Employee mindset: "I need complete certainty before proceeding." Founder mindset: "I've assessed the downside, and the potential upside justifies moving forward with imperfect information."

Professionals who demonstrate appropriate risk-taking are more likely to be identified as high-potential leaders.

Leaders value team members who can:

This doesn't mean recklessness—it means proportional risk-taking backed by clear reasoning.

Here are three immediate steps you can take to begin implementing founder thinking in your current role:

Founders understand how businesses function holistically. Start building your knowledge by:

Action item: Spend 20 minutes daily on business education related to your company and industry.

Founders clearly understand how their actions create financial outcomes. Create your personal value map by:

Action item: On a single page, draw the connection between your daily work and company financial outcomes.

Train yourself to see problems as business opportunities. When facing challenges:

Action item: Start noticing how you might reframe work problems as potential innovations.

Consistently applying these mindset shifts and practices leads to concrete results:

Professionals who demonstrate strategic thinking are much more likely to be tapped for high-visibility assignments that accelerate their development.

A friend of mine Andy Wergedal runs a newsletter Become the CEO of Your Life which is definitely worth subscribing if you are interested even more on the topic.