Implementer Posts
Self-Implementation: Four Things I Learned About EOS by Doing It the Hard Way
Here’s how it started for me: Over 20 years ago, I joined a scrappy New Orleans software company as a self-taught programmer. Just the founder and me…grinding it out, trying to build something. As the company grew, so did my role. I went from writing code to wearing pretty much every hat imaginable – sales, operations, eventually a seat on the leadership team. The founder and I developed this rhythm. He’d dream big and see possibilities everywhere. I’d figure out how to actually make those dreams happen and keep the trains running. We didn’t have words for it at the time, but we were living that Visionary/Integrator dynamic before we knew it was a thing. Then we both read Traction®. And it was like someone had written down exactly what we’d been trying to figure out on our own. We got excited. We got the leadership team excited. And we
Why Your Scorecard Isn’t Driving Better Decisions (Yet)
Most leadership teams I work with already have a Scorecard. They’ve chosen their numbers. They review them weekly. They even colour-code them. And yet, they still tell me the same thing. “We’ve got the numbers… but they’re not really helping us make better decisions.” That’s not because the Scorecard doesn’t work. It’s because it’s not being used the way it was designed to be used. I’ve seen this in my own businesses, & I see it every week in leadership rooms. The intention is right. The discipline is there. But the Scorecard isn’t quite doing its job yet. So let’s unpack why. What The Scorecard Is Actually For A Scorecard isn’t a report. It’s not a performance review. And it’s definitely not there to make people feel good or bad. The Scorecard exists to trigger conversations and decisions. It’s meant to tell you, early & objectively, whether the business is
Busy Meetings. Polite Nods. Same Problems.
Most leadership teams meet regularly. The intent is good. And somehow the same issues keep showing up.You can feel it in the room: lots of updates, polite nods, and unresolved issues that roll to next week. The gap is rarely commitment — it’s structure. Without a disciplined meeting rhythm, discussions drift toward sharing information instead of making decisions. Accountability weakens, and progress slows. That’s why EOS uses the Level 10 Meeting™: a consistent 90-minute agenda that protects leadership time for real work. A Scorecard anchors the conversation in objective data, Rock Review keeps quarterly priorities front and center, and IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) drives issues to the root so they actually get solved. A strong meeting ends with decisions, owners, and next actions — not more discussion. Question: Where is your leadership team spending time each week — but not making progress? Where is your leadership team losing momentum? —
EOS Rocks and the 90-Day World: How to Win the Next 90 Days
One of the fastest ways to lose momentum in business is thinking too far ahead and doing nothing today. Veterans know this instinctively. You don’t plan an entire deployment in one step. You break it down into phases. Clear objectives. Tight timelines. Relentless follow-through. That’s exactly what Rocks and the 90-Day World are in EOS®. Why 90 Days Works In business, anything longer than 90 days gets fuzzy. Priorities drift. Accountability fades. Execution slips. The 90-Day World fixes that. It creates a short planning horizon where everyone knows: What matters right now What winning looks like Who owns what It’s not about lowering ambition, it’s about increasing execution. What Are Rocks? Rocks are the 3–7 most important priorities for the next 90 days. Not to-do lists. Not “nice to haves.” These are the objectives that, if completed, move the business forward in a meaningful way. Think of Rocks like mission
The Strategic Gut Check: Is It Time to Pivot or Press On?
Every business reaches a point where the path forward isn’t clear. Market dynamics shift, customer expectations evolve, and internal pressures mount. At these crossroads, leadership teams face a critical question: should we pivot or press on? Making this decision without a structured approach can lead to costly missteps—or missed opportunities. Start by taking a hard look at your market signals. Are your customers’ needs changing faster than your offerings can adapt? Are competitors outpacing you with new solutions or business models? Collect both quantitative data—sales trends, churn rates, market share shifts—and qualitative insights from customer feedback and frontline teams. Patterns often reveal whether your current strategy is still viable or starting to falter. Next, assess operational performance. Examine your key processes, product development cycles, and financial metrics. Are your teams consistently hitting targets, or are they stretched thin just to maintain the status quo? Operational strain can be a silent
The Self-Limiting Beliefs of a Chicken Mama
How to keep unexamined assumptions from limiting your growth I inherited my Icelandic chickens from my chicken coach. When she started growing her flock, she ordered some eggs from an Icelandic chicken breeder and incubated them at her home. When she gave me some of these chickens and my rooster, she told me not to mix them with any other breeds. While my dream of being a chicken mama had not included limiting myself to Icelandic chickens, I trusted my coach and followed her instructions. Now, I will say that I’ve been happy with my Icelandic chickens: they are hardy enough to survive our brief, but sometimes intense winter storms, and their hens are known to go broody, making it easy and cheap to grow my flock. But, in recent years, as my broody hens haven’t been producing enough peeps to augment my flock, I have started to consider expanding