Several years ago, an HVAC company in Southeast Michigan was growing rapidly — faster than they ever had before. They were anticipating future changes throughout the company and adjustments in the Accountability Chart to help grow and place staff. But something was wrong, and it would dramatically affect the course of their business. Heading for the Cliff I vividly remember in one Quarterly Session, we came together and for the first time their backlog was down. They didn’t hit their projected amounts in the Scorecard. There was a softening in the economy and it was rapidly affecting their industry. We had to confront the truth about where they were really at, and where they were headed. Until that moment, the leadership team had expected to see a continuation of the upward trend the company had been experiencing. Now it seemed that assumption wasn’t necessarily reality, and the organization was in danger

Companies that run on the Entrepreneurial Operating System® are facing a historic challenge right now: to IDS the business impact of the coronavirus. In many ways, this is an unprecedented time. Futurecasting the effects of the outbreak isn’t a straightforward activity. To help business leaders get a handle on the situation, I hosted a webinar that explored the factors organizations need to be thinking about as we move forward into the COVID-19 crisis. Here’s a summary of the best practices we discussed. Cash Is King Make cash a priority among your leadership team. During economic uncertainty, your cash remains a constant. Banks can change credit terms without notice. To ensure you have the cash you need at your disposal: Call your customers in advance to see if they foresee any issues with timely payments. Get ahead of it and work out a plan if they expect to have an issue.

As the coronavirus has shut down businesses and the economy, a lot more fear and uncertainty pervade our environment. It can be easy to fall into a pessimistic habit of thinking, but pessimism doesn’t help leadership teams to navigate the way out. While most entrepreneurs are naturally optimistic and more possibility-oriented in their thinking, their leadership teams aren’t always in that mental space. Related reading: Your Business Can Thrive in the Days of Coronavirus As Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman has discovered, the difference between pessimism and optimism can be what makes or breaks a company during difficult times. Dr. Seligman is the author of Learned Optimism, a book that reveals how optimism can help you to be more effective at work and at home. Imagine that you needed surgery to remove a tumor, and you were interviewing the two best surgeons available — both with identical education and credentials. One of the surgeons

The coronavirus crisis has sent many organizations — large and small — into a state of panic, fear, and historic losses. Without a simple system to clarify, simplify, and achieve their vision, many of these companies will never recover. The Entrepreneurial Operating System® is designed to strengthen your entire company to withstand economic storms of all sizes. If you implement EOS® purely, you’ll enjoy a company that’s more weatherproof than you could have imagined. I wanted to see how EOS is helping my clients to thrive during economic disruption. I interviewed a few of them and asked them which EOS Tools have been most helpful to their businesses during the COVID-19 period. Here’s what they had to say. Level 10 Meetings™ Cherry Republic is a retailer of all things cherry — especially cherry foods, such as salsas, fruit and nut mixes, and candies. They operate six retail stores across Michigan, as

As Michigan businesses are starting to reopen following the coronavirus shutdown, leadership teams are anxious to start meeting in person again. Many Certified EOS Implementers™ will return to in-person sessions with clients (as will I), but I’m finding compelling reasons to also continue offering virtual EOS® Planning Sessions. While I can’t wait to see my EOS® clients face-to-face again — to shake hands, and to interact without a video screen between us — many leadership teams can realize unique advantages by having the option to meet virtually. Here are six ways my clients are benefitting from virtual EOS Planning Sessions, post-coronavirus. 1) Eliminate Travel Pains Virtual sessions eliminate travel time, expenses, and hassles. If your leadership team is scattered across states, time zones, or even the globe, there’s no need to fly them in. The time and money you save can get channeled back into your business, and your team members aren’t

One of the biggest, most common reasons we entrepreneurs get into business for ourselves is to be more present with our kids or have more freedom to take family trips, or to be more intentional with the ones we love. And yet, we don’t communicate with our families in a very intentional way most of the time — especially compared to the way we communicate in an EOS®-run business. That’s what it was like for me, too. I would come home after a full day of meeting with leadership teams, have dinner, and get the kids to bed. Then there were always several things that my wife, Jill, would want to run by me or something we had to make a decision on. We were always wiped out and didn’t want to be thinking about that stuff, and yet we would still make decisions — often, while frustrating one another.