Too much silence in a meeting means that your people aren’t speaking up. But if you’re the only one speaking, you essentially have the same problem. Many leaders naturally take risks when making decisions quickly. They think aloud and love to brainstorm. If that describes you, silence in a meeting can be excruciating. But it’s good for business. While too much silence indicates a lack of team health (which causes an unwillingness to be open and honest in the moment), a lack of silence will keep you hitting the ceiling. I’ve noticed this play out within a few of my clients’ leadership teams. Here’s what happens. Historically, the Visionary (or another leader) is used to giving their opinion and setting the course. When that happens, they don’t give space for the team to process what’s being said or to process their own thoughts. Any decision that comes out of that meeting

If you’re like most business owners and small business leaders, you don’t have enough time in the week to tackle all of the issues and responsibilities that demand your attention. I find this is true even of leadership teams who are running on the Entrepreneurial Operating System®. Although they delegate as much as they can offload, it can still be a challenge to free up your time to work on your business. To help leadership teams discover where they’re wasting their energies, I take them through the EOS Assistance Track™. The Assistance Track helps to refocus how you use your time. Usually, this involves handing off tasks to an assistant who is better suited to do those tasks. Your Inbox Is Holding You Hostage One of those tasks is email. A lot of business owners and entrepreneurial leaders struggle with email — the sheer volume of messages keeps them in constant

Gratitude is one of those attitudes that everybody likes, but few understand. It’s often seen as a sentimental “warm fuzzy,” but in fact gratitude is a powerful and necessary mindset that every team must have, in order to get to the next level. Unfortunately, gratitude comes in short supply in too many businesses. Slowing down and expressing thankfulness puts a person in a better frame of mind. And it has ripple effects that transform business relationships within teams, across departments, and between organizations. Let’s look at the power of gratitude for your organization. Gratitude Helps You Get to the Next Level of Business When you can engage others with a deep, appreciative mindset, fear of conflict melts away. We become fear-driven when we think, “It’s uncomfortable for me.” But if we approach difficult situations from a place of gratitude, we realize that it’s more painful in the long run not

If you read the Wall Street Journal, perhaps you caught the story about an awkward email exchange between a consultant named Jill Campen and her boss, Marty Finkle. Campen sent Finkle a detailed email that outlined a strategy she wanted to implement, with his approval. Finkle replied with a single word: “Done.” Wounded by the snippy reply, Campen stewed for half an hour before deciding she was too upset to reply by email. She called him and asked, “What is going on with you? ‘Done?’ What does that mean?” Her boss was surprised. He wasn’t upset, he was simply in a hurry to have the issue resolved and to clear his inbox for the day. Campen showed insight that few of us in business have: she knew when not to use email. Chances are, you’re using email for the wrong things — and it can lead to a breakdown in relationships

If you’re running on the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, you’re running your business decisions through the filter of your Core Values. Your Core Values guide your hiring, promoting, and firing. They guide your employee reviews. They even guide your day-to-day operations. But if you aren’t carefully naming, defining, and communicating your Core Values, you could have a company that only appears to be rowing in the same direction. Under the surface, your organization could have any number of cross currents that conflict with one another. And this could go undiscovered for months, or years. These cross currents lead to Hitting the Ceiling. Even if your business is generating good revenues and profits, the effort to get there is exhausting. Without the undercurrents, better results come with much less effort. As long as this persists, the Traction™ that your company gains will be held back by the confusion around your Core Values. This was

It’s not easy to get funding from investors. Pitching can be a brutal experience, and each round of funding can be incredibly stressful. When the future health and stability of your business is on the line, every detail counts. Investors don’t part with their money hastily, and only the strongest candidates will come out celebrating. Companies need to make the most of every advantage they can. I have a client who has been implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System® for four years. This is a software company that has been funded by investors through multiple rounds of funding over the years. Thanks to EOS®, they recently started hitting their stride at a whole new level and they needed a bigger round of funding to continue their growth. Here’s a case study how EOS helped one startup raise investment funding. The events that unfolded took the leadership team completely by surprise —