Almost every day when I drive down my driveway past the neighbor’s pasture, I see their goat with the floppy ears hanging out with the horses. Sometimes he is perched on top of the wood stand, and sometimes he is lying on top of the horse, his legs dangling down on each side. It absolutely cracks me up every time I see it. I hear goats are pretty easy to take care of, so why not get one? I mean, they eat blackberry bushes, and we have plenty of those. And now that we can manage our chickens, why not try out some other farm animals? My husband has also decided we should raise a lamb. (I just found out a lamb is a baby sheep. I know, I know, I didn’t learn my farm animals when I was younger.) But then, why stop at a lamb? Maybe we should

In EOS-run companies, there are 2 leadership roles that must work in unison: the Visonary and the Integrator. Visionaries focus on the big picture, company culture, and client and internal relationships. Integrators take the visionary’s ideas and create order by ensuring the company’s priorities move the needle from point A to point B. Visionaries are the idea people, and Integrators get stuff done – very different roles held by very different personalities. What happens when an off-the-chart visionary won’t settle in to focus on what needs to get done and when the integrator doesn’t hold feet to the fire? It holds the company back. In October, I met with the leadership team of a company that is trying to raise a substantial amount of money. The visionary left the session with a rock to resolve board issues and establish protocols so that they function more effectively. 6 months later, the

Tools help us stay on point, be more efficient and effective, and get the job done. EOS Tools have an elevated purpose – they also reveal hidden issues that fester and hide in the status quo, picking away at a leadership team’s ability to elevate and excel. When clients commit to EOS, they commit to using the tools in the EOS Toolbox. They also make a commitment to one another – to be transparent, honest, and vulnerable. When that happens, the tools reveal the issues. When leadership teams trust the tools and the process, stuff that has never before surfaced bubbles up. “So and so isn’t nice and isn’t great at his job.” “I feel like I’ll be shut down for sharing ideas.” “We waste so much time in meetings and never seem to move the needle” The list is endless! Sometimes, the truths that surface are messy and ugly –

This is not a post about buying and flipping property. This is not a post about how to claim money left at an airport by a distant Uncle that needs your help to transfer it into the US. This is not a post about working harder to sell more or put in 20,000 more steps a day to remind everyone how to do their jobs more efficiently. This is a post for the entrepreneurs out there challenged to get their teams to make decisions like they owned the business. This is about the one thing that will have the biggest impact on the financial performance of your business: Sharing, teaching, and repeating those two things forever. An Introduction to the Process Money and financial standing are often the root of the biggest “why” when making any business decision. Financial knowledge and understanding of finance’s impact on your business is critical to having a healthy

Note to companies running on EOS®: The How to Be A Great Boss book and workshop are still foundational learning for ALL leaders, which includes both you and your managers. This post is designed to help you design a strategy for making an ongoing investment in all of your leaders outside your leadership team. Remember #2 on the leadership side of the LMA leadership behaviors: “I am providing the necessary resources.” When you grow to have mid-level managers in your organization—which generally leads to more disconnect from the day-to-day—it brings a whole new level of complexity. With a million things on your mind to keep the business afloat, there’s one task that often falls through the cracks: making sure mid-level managers have enough training. I see it often. With more experienced managers and leaders having less and less time, it’s no wonder newer leaders may end up feeling unanchored or unsupported. Without mentoring and support

Cascading EOS is about completing three main tasks: teaching the tools to your team, coaching them through barriers they encounter when using the tools, and ultimately watching them become such experts they can go through the same process with their teams. While this might sound simple on paper (you can thank Gino Wickman for that!), like anything else, it isn’t nearly so simple, especially with rocks. In particular, one of the most common questions I get about cascading rocks is, “How do I get my team to come up with their own rocks?” It’s one thing for a leader to tell their team, “Here’s what you need to work on.” Transitioning to team members independently establishing their areas for improvement is a totally different ballgame. Let’s go back to the basics for a second. Establish Where Rocks Come From Your job is to teach them the “why” and the “how