The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®)

The brilliant leadership and management system for small and midsize companies

Would you describe your company’s leadership and management system as brilliant, simple, elegant and magnificently effective? How about, it creates an environment that people love to work in and results in a robust bottom line? Gino Wickman’s Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS®), outlined in “Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business,” is all of this.

EOS is rapidly spreading through North America, England and Australia. There are 13,000+ companies in 2022 that have implemented EOS with a professional implementer, and projections are for 100,000 companies by the end of 2030. Further, it has gained favor with venture capitalists such as The Firefly Group, which is running its own firm on EOS and investing in companies running on EOS.

What is EOS, and why is it so popular? EOS is a set of simple, real-world tools that enhance the effectiveness of one another. Wickman designed EOS the way a chef creates a five-star entrée, with incredible attention to all the necessary nuances and interactions that make it not just good, but great. EOS is popular because it’s a tremendously effective leadership and management structure. And because EOS companies are thriving.

How’s EOS different from other systems?

• It’s ideal for companies with 10–250 people. Most leadership and management systems such as Lean, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma were born in mega-sized companies and are best suited for large companies. These three systems all originated from, or have roots in, Toyota’s processes.
• EOS intricately combines leadership and management skills, which are usually viewed as different.
• Once executive team members learn the tools, it’s easy for them to cascade them throughout the organization without external help.
• It keeps everyone in the organization motivated and laser focused on their top three to seven priorities.
• It’s guaranteed. Each session of the implementation process is 100% guaranteed. If you don’t receive value for the training session, you owe nothing! There’s zero financial risk.

The model and foundational tools

Here are the six key components. The goal is to become 100% strong in each.

1. “Vision” includes eight questions that, when answered, define your culture through a set of unique values and a two-page strategic plan.
2. “People” contains the tools to ensure you have the right people (those who fit your values) in the right seats (they’re highly skilled in their position). To be a high-performance organization, you need people who are both right people and in the right seat.
3. “Data” includes a score card for the executive team and all teams that would benefit (sales and operations also typically use them).
4. As leaders, it’s important to love big issues, because the executive teams that are great at solving issues excel and beat the competition often.
5. Entrepreneurial teams must be fast and flexible. Document the most important 20% that give you 80% of what you need in your most important business systems (e.g., marketing, sales, operations, HR and finance).
6. “Traction” is execution with discipline, focus and accountability. It’s a great strength of EOS! During my three decades coaching entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed that almost all entrepreneurs have big visions, but their organizations frequently fall short on the discipline, focus and accountability needed to accomplish their vision.

A vision without traction is just a hallucination.