S1E2: Take an Entrepreneurial Leap and Grow Your Business | Gino Wickman

Are you ready to take your entrepreneurial business to the next level but feel uncertain about what the next step is? Well, you’re in the right place.

Cementing the Visionary and Integrator™ roles within your business is the key to building that momentum necessary for growth and success. 

Today’s guest deeply understands the need for specific roles within a company. His insight into building the perfect Visionary/Integrator™ partnership is outlined in clear steps to help you begin taking action.

Gino Wickman is an author, speaker, teacher, entrepreneur, creator, and founder of EOS Worldwide and creator of Entrepreneurial Leap. His goal has always been to help entrepreneurial leadership teams crystallize their vision, gain traction, and live the life they want. As the creator of the Visionary and Integrator concept, he has a lot to share on the topic.

Key Takeaways: 

• Understand what you need in a partner and look for those qualities.
• Set up regular meetings to ensure you’re on the same page.
• Play on each other’s strengths.
• Create clarity around what each role needs to entail. 
• Only do the work you’re built for and drawn to.

Some Questions Asked:

• What is the origin of the Visionary/Integrator (V/I™) concept?
• How did Gino find his perfect partner to create a Visionary/Integrator Duo™?
• How long did it take for Gino to find his perfect partner?
• How did Gino and his partner, Don Tinney, make their partnership work in the early days?
• What did Gino learn about Don and himself during the growth of EOS Worldwide?

Creating the EOS Worldwide Integrator and Visionary Roles

After a successful exit from his family business and a discovered passion for helping entrepreneurial companies do more with their businesses, Gino Wickman founded the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, which eventually led to EOS Worldwide. Throughout his time testing and teaching the EOS Process®, he began to recognize a pattern of success: the concept of Visionary and Integrator roles was helping his clients thrive. 

Initially, Gino took onboth the Visionary and Integrator roles for EOS. However, he soon realized he could not be responsible for both. Knowing that he needed someone to fill the Integrator role, Gino created a list of qualities that the ideal partner would need to have to fill this role: 

• Share core values
• Be interested in a risk/reward relationship
• Be someone who was great at building teams

By narrowing down what he wanted in a partner, he was able to find someone who could take on the Integrator role, but it was not perfection from the start. Gino and his new Integrator, Don Tinney, worked hard to establish a routine and workflow that would be sustainable and successful. They set up Same Page Meetings™, where they would discuss important goals and objectives.

Gino believes in letting your uniqueness shine through, no matter what you’re doing. He encourages others to find someone who complements their personality and has the ability to be the strength to their weakness (and vice versa).

“Just be 100% [you].” – Gino [22:40]

After years of working as the Visionary for EOS, Gino decided it was time to step back and find someone else to take his role. Although he enjoyed being the Visionary, it wasn’t what truly lit him up. He wanted to be working as an Implementer. As a firm believer in doing only the work you’re passionate about, he knew it was time to find a replacement Visionary.

“Get really clear on the type of business you’re built for and drawn to. If you do that your odds of success will soar.” – Gino [24:44]

Today, Kelly Knight and Mark O’Donnell are the Integrator and Visionary duo of EOS Worldwide. Meanwhile, Don and Gino are doing more of what they love. Finding the perfect V/I Duo doesn’t mean it must be the same two people throughout the course of the business’s growth. Find the people who are right for your business, and as you grow, allow them to grow too.

If you’re interested in how the concept for the Visionary and Integrator roles was created, or advice on how to find the perfect V/I Duo for your business, this is the episode for you. 

Learn More:

• Gino Wickman: Website | LinkedIn | EOS Worldwide
• Don Tinney: LinkedIn
• Mike Paton: LinkedIn
• Mark O’Donnell: LinkedIn
• Kelly Knight: LinkedIn
• Michael Gerber