Survival To Success: Leading Small, High-Growth Enterprises

by Peter Brooks, Gerry Starsia

“THERE IS NO MORE EXCITING, BUT LONELY VOYAGE THAN STARTING A COMPANY. . . .“. . .and Brooks and Starsia have provided the ideal companion for that ride—filled with valuable insights from successful founders who have made that trip.”

—BOB HIGGINS, Co-Founder, Highland Capital and Causeway,
Former Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business SchoolSurvival to Success describes the unique challenges of entrepreneurial leadership and offers a succinct guide for successfully leading small, high-growth enterprises.

Drawing on original research, in-depth interviews, and first-hand experience, the authors offer tried and true guideposts to lessen the anxiety of being an entrepreneurial leader and increase the chances of success for the entrepreneurial organization, the key components of effective leadership in any setting, large and small, non-profit and for profit;Building a highly functioning team;Managing under the stress of continually limited financial resources;Establishing an organizational culture consistent with the values of the CEO and the mission of the organization;Maintaining organizational energy and morale in the face of daily pressures and threats to survival.This is an essential companion for the leader, advisor or sponsor of the entrepreneurial enterprise, as well as the business student wanting to better understand not only the pressures but the exhilaration of being a successful business leader.

256 pages, Paperback

Published May 30, 2025

About the author

Peter Brooks is the author of Henry James Goes to Paris, Realist Vision, Troubling Confessions, Reading for the Plot, The Melodramatic Imagination, and a number of other books, including the historical novel World Elsewhere. He taught for many years at Yale, where he was Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature, and currently is Andrew W. Mellon Scholar at Princeton.