There is a wonderful story in the book, Teaching the Elephant to Dance by Jim Belasco. The book is about Dr. Denton Cooley, a cardiothoracic surgeon famous for performing the first implantation of a total artificial heart. Mr. Belasco spent months following Dr. Cooley around observing and interviewing him.

One day, as Dr. Cooley was about to enter the operating room, he spent about a half hour talking with the gentleman who was washing the floor outside the OR. After Dr. Cooley entered the operating room area, Mr. Belasco spoke with the man, noting he and Dr. Cooley had talked for quite some time. The gentleman responded, “Oh, yes, we talk every morning before he enters the OR. I always look forward to our chats.” Mr. Belasco then asked the man, “What do you do here?” He replied, “We save lives.”

I share this story with my clients when we are discovering their Core Values. I think the gentleman’s reply that “We save lives” epitomizes the strength of Core Values. The man could have said, “I wash floors” or “I’m the janitor.” But he didn’t because he understands the reason the hospital exists and the primary role of everyone in that hospital.

That is company culture. That is a demonstration that Core Values are not a memo from administration. Core Values have a life—they are lived every day—and they are demonstrated by every employee every day. 

I challenge you and your Leadership Team at your next Quarterly Session to take five quiet minutes, review each Core Value and underline the ones you need to operationalize better. This will help you determine how you can improve internal and external processes to ensure your Core Values are front and center throughout your company.

If you would like to chat about your company’s Core Values or need help identifying them, I welcome the opportunity to talk with you. After you fill out the short consult form below, we can set up a free phone conversation to discuss your Core Values. It’s not enough to just have them—you must live them, too. Let’s get you on track to have your entire team displaying your Core Values every day.

I was a technical rock climber in a former life. I began climbing at the age of 12, and eventually became certified as both a climber and a climbing instructor. What an exhilarating endeavor and I loved every minute of it—well, almost every minute.

There is a fair amount of physical pain associated with climbing, especially on big walls such as El Capitan or Half Dome. It was not uncommon to feel a toe breaking as I stretched for another handhold. And that is when a fellow climber would sometimes leave the climb because the pain was intolerable.

Think about your company. It is not unlike rock climbing, or another adrenaline-pumping sport. It is exhilarating to start a company, get to market, and nurture its growth. Yet there are numerous opportunities to experience pain. It occurs in the early days when you are wearing all the hats. The pain occurs when a few employees join your company and you can delegate aspects of all those hats, yet you retain control. And with continued growth you may experience pain when you need to terminate an employee, or when an employee acts in a way that harms the company.

This is your company and as the leader you don’t avoid the pain. You recognize it, learn from it, and realize at some point the pain will diminish. As an entrepreneur I want you to win regardless of your definition of “win.” You may want to be the leader in your industry, or perhaps you want to be recognized as a top place to work. Perhaps being named to the Fortune 100 list is your ultimate goal.

When you go to your studio tomorrow, my hope for you is that you will highlight the most important thing you need to get done. Maybe it’s finalizing that contract with your largest customer to date; maybe it’s a project you’ve been longing to initiate, or maybe it is a difficult conversation you need to have with your business partner or client or employee.

Whatever it is, go the extra mile because it is never crowded.

If you are experiencing pain in your business and are not sure how to get to that extra mile, I would be happy to talk you through it. I invite you to use the consult form below to request a short phone consultation with me. Sometimes talking it through with someone who has been in your shoes is enough to get you back on the right track.

As a serial business owner and current EOS^®Implementer™, I’ve experienced my share of business pains. It would be my pleasure to help alleviate yours, and introduce you to how EOS^® can get you to the extra mile. 

Prior to working with an entrepreneurial leadership team to implement EOS^®, every EOS Implementer™ conducts a 90 Minute Meeting to introduce the EOS Model™ and the EOS Process™. My goal is to help the leadership team determine if EOS^®is right for them, audition as their EOS Implementer™, and provide them the information they need to make an informed decision.

During that initial meeting I learn about the company—their history, what their challenges are, what they want from their company, and what they excel at doing. It is not uncommon for the leadership team to spend considerable time telling me how busy they are.

Being busy seems to have become the standard for so many people. Being busy suggests we allow you to not be accountable because you are frantically moving from one project to the next. At the end of the day you are exhausted yet, truth be told, you were not productive.

EOS^® has a solution for “being busy”. We call it the 90-Day World™. Here’s how it works:

When a Leadership Team defines their 1-Year Plan, we then help the team identify their company and individual priorities for the next 90 days. It is a proven fact that as humans, we can stay focused for only 90 days. After that we get distracted, the wheels on the bus become wobbly, and by day 92 the wheels fall off the bus.

Once the Leadership Team agrees to what the 5 – 7 priorities are for the next 90 days, they then write specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic Rocks that will move them toward their 1-Year Plan. I’ve talked about Rocks previously; you can find that discussion here.

Every 90 days we gather the Leadership Team around the table to evaluate the previous quarter, review the V/TO so the entire team is 100% on the same page with the company vision and how they are going to get there, and then we identify the priorities and Rocks for the next 90 days. 

And this becomes your way of life. It is magical. At the end of the year, it is highly likely you will have achieved your 1-Year Plan. At the very least, you will have made substantial progress, which is probably more than you can say today. 

90-Day World™—it’s the perfect solution to being productive rather than “being busy”. And who doesn’t want that?

If you’re ready to be more productive, I highly encourage you to learn more about EOS^®and its 90-day model. The perfect way to start is to speak with someone who has gone through EOS^®with his/her own business, as well as to an EOS Implementer™. As luck would have it, I am both. And I welcome the opportunity to talk about my experience, both as a business owner and as an EOS Implementer™. Chances are I went through something similar to what you are going through now and can offer a unique perspective.

Please fill out the consult form below if you’d like to have a short conversation with me about EOS^®, your challenges, and the impact the process can make for you every 90 days. Your time is valuable. Let’s make it matter.

In my experience, entrepreneurs are often challenged to identify why their company exists, and then stay laser focused on their “why”. In the world of EOS^®, we call your why your company’s Core Focus™. Why is this important, you ask? Because it keeps you from getting distracted as you grow your company.

You have customers and clients who absolutely love what you do and value their relationship with you. They call you whenever they need the service you provide or want to place another order for the products you supply. And because your customers and clients value what you provide, they think of other things you could offer.

Therein lays the problem. Many times the additional offerings do not match why your company exists. But we want to satisfy our customers and clients so we say, “We can do that.” 

In my previous companies my team and I often responded in the exact same way. And then driving back to the studio we would look at each other and question how we would do “that.” Sometimes we didn’t even know what “that” was!

What to do, what to do. Here are three ways you can maintain focus:

1. Clearly identify why you are in business. This isn’t what you do, i.e.: manufacture blue widgets. It’s why you manufacture blue widgets. One of my clients creates customized marketing programs for franchised companies. That is their “what.” Their Core Focus™,  or their why, is “creating new ways to solve old problems.”
2. Once your why is clear, test every business decision against it.
3. “Never try to sell a meteor to a dinosaur. It wastes your time and annoys the dinosaur.” This is a quote from the culture design group, gapingvoid. It’s a great reminder that when you stray from your why you get distracted and are looking in a direction other than the course you set for your company.

This doesn’t mean you need to disappoint your customer or client. You probably have business colleagues to whom you can introduce your customer. Or perhaps you can do some research and find a resource that will meet your client’s needs. They will love you for it and value your relationship even more.

If you are having trouble staying focused on your why, or are even having trouble identifying what your why is, you are not alone. Most business owners want to please their customers and they lose their why in the craziness of trying to fulfill those customer needs. The great thing about EOS^®is that the tools and structure are designed to keep you focused. If you want to maintain your why but are not sure where to start, I invite you to fill out the consult form below to request a free, 15-minute phone call with me. Getting the conversation started is the first step to understanding the power and impact of EOS^®. I hope you’ll fill out the form today, and we can start the process of identifying and maintaining your company’s focus. 

Every once in a while, I meet a leadership team who believes that as an EOS Implementer™, I am going to examine their company and present them with plans to solve their problems and get the company on a vibrant growth trajectory. They hold this belief despite my initial meeting with the leadership team, when I shared the EOS Model™ and the EOS Process™.

One of the things I always tell prospective clients during that initial meeting is implementing EOS^®is hard work. It is hard work because I’m helping them look at their company in a different way. I’m asking them to change their corporate behavior. And I remind them the answer is in the room. My job is to facilitate the conversation that discovers the answer.

I join them in a journey that leads the leadership team to work on their business rather than in their business. I don’t come to them as an industry expert—that is what they bring to the table. I come to them as an EOS^®expert. And as EOS^®becomes their way of life, the company doesn’t need me any longer. As an EOS Implementer™ I create independence, not dependence.

The company won’t make changes if I do the work—they can only grow and develop if they do the work.

If you would like more details about how an EOS Implementer™ can help you with your business, I encourage you to read my blog, “The Diversity of EOS Implementers™”.

By design, we are different from a business coach. We help business teams implement EOS^®in their companies similar to the way a parent teaches a child to walk. We hold on tight to your hand at first to be sure you understand how to use the tools and resources so you don’t “fall.” Over time, our grip loosens as the process starts to feel more natural, and you begin to take confident steps on your own. Finally, we let go of your hand when EOS^®is fully engrained in your culture and you no longer need our support. You are now walking independently, and like a proud parent, we are clapping our hands with excitement.  

Are you looking for an EOS Implementer™ to guide you through the EOS^®process? If you’d like to talk with me about the journey, how to find the right implementer for you, or the ins and outs of EOS^®, please fill out the consult form below. We will then schedule a convenient time to talk by phone to discuss your needs and answer your questions. I look forward to sharing my experience and helping you determine if EOS^®is right for you.