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Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)

A complete system for running a business with six key components. Designed for entrepreneurial companies ($2M-$50M revenue, 10-250 employees) that want to align vision and execution.

Core Principle

Most businesses suffer from the same core issues: people, vision, traction. Great vision without traction is hallucination; traction without vision is aimless. EOS connects the two through a practical weekly operating rhythm that strengthens the Six Key Components of any organization.

Scoring

Goal: 10/10. Score the business by how many of the six Quick Diagnostic rows pass (each component is either in place or not), mapped to the bands below. Bands: 9-10 = all six diagnostic rows pass and rocks consistently hit 80%+ completion; 7-8 = five rows pass, one component weak; 5-6 = three to four rows pass; 3-4 = one to two rows pass; <=2 = no operating rhythm in place. Always state the current score, the failing diagnostic rows, and the next action for each.

The Six Key Components

Vision → People → Data → Issues → Process → Traction

1. Vision Component

Question: Does everyone in the organization know where you're going and how you plan to get there?

Tool: Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO) — answers eight questions on two pages:

Question	What It Defines	Example
Core Values	3-7 non-negotiable beliefs	"Own it", "Do the right thing", "Grow or die"
Core Focus	Purpose/cause/passion + niche	"Simplify small business" + "Cloud accounting"
10-Year Target	Big, hairy, audacious goal	"$100M revenue" or "10,000 customers"
Marketing Strategy	Target market, 3 uniques, proven process, guarantee	Who you serve, why you're different
3-Year Picture	What the company looks like in 3 years	Revenue, profit, headcount, key metrics
1-Year Plan	Revenue, profit, measurables, goals	Specific targets for this year
Quarterly Rocks	3-7 priorities for this quarter	Most important things in 90 days
Issues List	All unresolved obstacles	Problems, ideas, opportunities

Process: Leadership completes the V/TO together (2-day off-site), shares it with the entire organization, reviews quarterly, updates annually.

Key insight: If the leadership team can't agree on the V/TO, you have a bigger problem — alignment comes first.

See references/vto.md when filling in the V/TO — the eight-question template and the off-site exercise sequence.

2. People Component

Question: Do you have the right people in the right seats?

Tool: Accountability Chart — not an org chart; it defines the structure and who owns what.

Visionary ←→ Integrator
              ├── Sales/Marketing
              ├── Operations
              └── Finance

Visionary: Big ideas, culture, key relationships, creative problem solving
Integrator: Runs the business day-to-day, manages the team, executes the vision
Rule: One person per seat — shared accountability is no accountability

Tool: People Analyzer — evaluate every person on two dimensions:

Right Person (core values fit): Rate +, +/-, or - on each core value. Must be "+" on all; one "+/-" is a conversation; any "-" means wrong person.
Right Seat (GWC): Gets it (understands the role), Wants it (genuinely), Capacity (mental, physical, emotional). Must be "yes" on all three.

People decisions:

Right person, right seat → keep and invest in
Right person, wrong seat → move to the right seat
Wrong person, right seat → coach or exit (hardest call)
Wrong person, wrong seat → exit immediately

See references/people.md when building the accountability chart or running People Analyzer — templates plus GWC scoring guidance.

3. Data Component

Question: Are you managing based on objective data, or subjective opinions?

Tool: Scorecard — a weekly report card of 5-15 numbers that tell you how the business is doing. Weekly data spots problems 2-4 weeks earlier than monthly and replaces gut-feel management with accountability.

Scorecard rules:

Activity-based metrics (leading indicators), not results (lagging)
Weekly numbers — monthly is too slow to react
Every number has an owner and a goal
Red/green: on track or off track

Example:

Metric	Owner	Goal	W1	W2	W3	W4
Revenue	Sales Lead	$50K/wk	✓	✓	✗	✓
New Leads	Marketing	100/wk	✓	✗	✓	✓
Cash Balance	Finance	>$200K	✓	✓	✓	✓

Metric selection: If you had to go on vacation for 4 weeks, what 5-15 numbers would tell you how the business is doing?

See references/data.md when building the scorecard — templates plus how to pick leading-indicator metrics.

4. Issues Component

Question: Are you identifying, discussing, and solving issues quickly?

Tool: Issues Solving Track (IDS) — Identify → Discuss → Solve:

Identify: Ask "Why?" until you reach the root cause (not the symptom); state the issue in one sentence
Discuss: Everyone gets input (not equal time); stop tangents; one issue at a time, time-boxed 5-15 minutes
Solve: Make the decision, assign action items (who + what + when), move on

Three types of issues:

Type	Examples	Action
Problems	Customer churn, team conflict, outage	IDS → solve
Ideas	New feature, process change, opportunity	IDS → decide (yes/no/later)
Obstacles	Blocked rock, resource constraint	IDS → remove or escalate

Issues list rules: Anyone can add issues; prioritize most important first; unsolved issues carry forward — not everything gets solved each meeting.

Common IDS failures: discussing symptoms instead of root cause, rehashing the same issue weekly, ending without clear action items.

See references/issues.md when facilitating IDS — a Five Whys worked example and tangent-control tactics.

5. Process Component

Question: Have you documented and consistently followed your core processes?

Tool: Core Process Documentation — the 20/80 rule: document 20% of your processes to get 80% consistency.

Core processes to identify: HR (hiring, onboarding, reviews), sales (lead → close), operations (delivery, fulfillment), customer service (support → resolution), finance (invoicing, collections).

Documentation format: Name the process, list 5-20 major steps with just enough detail (not a 50-page manual), make it visual where possible.

Example: Sales Process "The Closer"

Qualify lead (BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline)
Discovery call (30 min, question guide)
Demo (customized to their pain points)
Proposal (within 24 hours)
Follow up (3 touches in 7 days)
Close or disqualify

Followed By All (FBA): Document it, train on it, measure compliance, update quarterly.

See references/process.md when documenting a core process — full templates and a worked HR/sales/ops example.

6. Traction Component

Question: Are you executing on your vision every day?

Rocks (Quarterly Priorities)

The 3-7 most important things to accomplish in the next 90 days. Ninety days is long enough to achieve something meaningful, short enough to maintain urgency.

Rock-setting process:

Review the V/TO (vision, 3-year, 1-year)
Brainstorm what must get done this quarter to stay on track
Narrow to 3-7 company rocks, one owner each
Each leadership member also sets 3-7 individual rocks
Share with the organization and track weekly

SMART rocks: Specific ("Launch new pricing page", not "improve pricing"), Measurable (clear completion criteria), Achievable in 90 days, Realistic given resources, Time-bound (due end of quarter).

Rock scoring: Done = checked off (no partial credit); not done = carried forward or dropped. Target 80%+ completion. Beware rocks that are just "business as usual" — they don't move the needle.

See references/rocks.md when setting quarterly rocks — the binary done-test, the nine-row mistakes table, and a mid-quarter check-in.

Level 10 Meeting (Weekly Leadership Meeting)

The most important meeting in EOS. Every week, same day, same time, same agenda — 90 minutes, never longer.

Time	Section	Purpose
5 min	Segue	Good news, personal and professional
5 min	Scorecard	Review weekly numbers
5 min	Rock Review	On track / off track per rock
5 min	Headlines	Customer/employee quick updates
5 min	To-Do List	Last week's to-dos: done or not done
60 min	IDS	Identify, Discuss, Solve issues
5 min	Conclude	Recap to-dos, rate meeting 1-10

Rules:

Starts and ends on time — protecting the rhythm is what makes it work
No phones/laptops (except the agenda) — IDS needs full attention
IDS gets 60 of 90 minutes — solving issues is the point, updates are not
Rate the meeting 1-10 at the end (hence "Level 10"); below 8 means discuss what to improve
To-dos are 7-day action items with an owner; done = 100% complete; target 90%+ completion

See references/level-10.md when running or fixing a Level 10 — facilitation script and how to interpret the meeting rating.

EOS Implementation Timeline

Typical rollout: 2 years to full implementation.

Phase	Timeline	Focus
Focus Day	Day 1 (8 hours)	Accountability chart, rocks, scorecard, Level 10
Vision Building Day 1	Month 1	V/TO: core values, core focus, 10-year target
Vision Building Day 2	Month 2	V/TO: marketing strategy, 3-year, 1-year, rocks
Quarterly Sessions	Every 90 days	Review rocks, set new rocks, IDS major issues
Annual Planning	Yearly	Full V/TO review, 1-year plan, Q1 rocks

Self-implementation (read the book, follow the tools — free, slower) vs. EOS Implementer (certified facilitator — faster, expensive).

See references/implementation.md when planning the rollout — phase-by-phase sequencing and the self-vs-Implementer decision. For examples of how real companies sequenced it, see references/case-studies.md.

Organizational Checkup

Rate the company 1-5 on each statement:

Component	Statement	Score (1-5)
Vision	Leadership team agrees on where we're going and how to get there
People	We have the right people in the right seats
Data	We manage from a weekly scorecard of 5-15 numbers
Issues	We solve issues quickly and permanently
Process	Core processes are documented and followed by all
Traction	We set and achieve 90-day priorities (rocks)

Scoring: 25-30 strong (fine-tune) | 20-24 good (close gaps) | 15-19 average (significant work) | below 15 weak (consider an EOS Implementer).

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Why It Fails	Fix
Skipping Level 10s	Weekly rhythm lost, issues pile up	Protect the meeting, never cancel
No scorecard	Managing by gut, constant surprises	Choose 5-15 weekly numbers
Wrong people kept	Drags the entire team down	People Analyzer, make the tough calls
V/TO not shared	Team doesn't know the vision	Share with the entire company

For rock-specific mistakes (too many, too vague, business-as-usual, mid-quarter changes), see references/rocks.md — full nine-row table with fixes.

Quick Diagnostic

Question	If No	Action
Does leadership agree on vision?	Misalignment	Complete the V/TO together
Right people in right seats?	Performance issues	People Analyzer on all seats
Managing from data weekly?	Reactive management	Build a weekly scorecard
Issues solved permanently?	Same problems repeat	IDS in Level 10s
Core processes documented?	Inconsistency	Document the top 5 processes
90-day priorities set and tracked?	No traction	Set quarterly rocks

About the Author

Gino Wickman is the creator of EOS and founder of EOS Worldwide, a community of certified Implementers. Traction has sold over 2 million copies, and EOS is used by more than 250,000 companies worldwide. His work focuses on the practical tools entrepreneurial leadership teams need to get real traction.

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