I watched it happen in real-time last week. A leadership team gathered around the conference table for our annual planning session. One of the team members walked in, refilled her coffee, and I could immediately see it—that invisible weight pressing down on her shoulders. Her jaw was tight. Her eyes were red, as if she may have just had a long cry in the car before coming in.  During our check-in, she spoke up: “I need to get something out. I don’t know if I can focus on anything else until I do.” What followed was a flood of anxiety that had been building for weeks. A key team member had left unexpectedly. Not just any team member—someone who’d been there for over a decade, someone they’d trusted completely. And now this leader was spiraling: What if there are mistakes in her files? What if I need to review everything

“You can’t potty train a chicken.” I looked at my friend and fellow chicken owner and questioned what made her say that to me. It was such an obvious fact. To be honest, I have been a bit frustrated with my chickens as of late. Yes, they are laying eggs, but I hate how mean some of them are to the chickens on the lower end of the pecking order. And I can’t tell you how many times I have had to kick Sally out of the nesting box at night, reminding her that she is a chicken and chickens roost at night. Only to find her back at it, sleeping (and pooping) in the nesting box again. Was my friend trying to tell me, in a subtle way, that my frustrations are unfounded? Was this another soul-searching chicken mama moment? Why can’t I just accept that my chickens are

JOHNNY CASH Read here  

A process owner is the person accountable for keeping one core process documented, current, and Followed By All. They lead the documentation, propose updates, and own the outcome. It is sometimes the integrators but also could be someone else better suited on the leadership team or an amazing project manager who works closely with the Integrator. Ownership is what turns a process from a “binder” nobody opens into a living playbook the team actually uses. We also call them the Process Champion, Process Czar, Process Queen or King — whatever playfully reflects your culture. I am a Certified EOS Implementer® in Denver and co-author of Process!. Assign one owner per core process. Give them authority to fix the document fast when it is wrong. Leadership reviews and approves. Most companies have 6 to 10 core processes, so you need 6 to 10 owners, not one bottleneck. Related reading: How to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHgoAQJDY_A In this episode of The Scalability Code, we talk about everything: my work history, my mother’s take on marriage, and the importance of a great Integrator.  

You probably know one. Maybe you are one. They’re the founder or leader who thrives on dealing with problems as they hit. Every issue that lands on their desk gets chopped down with speed and efficiency. By end of day, they’ve slayed a dozens of fires and they feel great. But that feeling is a lie. Because while they’re in full ninja mode, they never stop to ask the question that actually matters – why did this issue turn up in the first place? In my experience, here’s what most people miss – there’s rarely just one root cause. Underneath every issue there are usually multiple causes, layered and connected. Fix the obvious one and you’ve treated a symptom. Leave the others untouched and the issue comes back – maybe in a slightly different form, but it comes back. In EOS, we use a process called IDS – Identify, Discuss,