Root Cause

Most leadership teams are great at discussing problems. Very few are great at making them disappear forever.

If your business keeps dealing with the exact same issues month after month, you’re likely treating the symptom, not the root cause.

In EOS, we use the Issue Solving Track (IDS) to help teams stop talking in circles and start executing:

  1. Identify: Uncover the true root cause, not just what’s on the surface.
  2. Discuss: Evaluate real solutions, not just feelings.
  3. Solve: Walk away with clear action items due in the next 7 days.

Stop letting recurring issues weigh your leadership team down. Pick one problem this week and go after the root cause.

The Skeptic in the Room

I always look for “The Tenacity Leader” during a client’s first EOS session.

If you’re familiar with Patrick Lencioni’s 6 Types of Working Genius, you know who this is. They’re the execution driver. The DO-er.

And they are usually pissed off about being trapped in a room for an all-day meeting.

They walk in disconnected, crossing their arms, convinced they’re about to endure 8 hours of “corporate fluff” and flavor-of-the-month exercises when they have actual work to do.

Last week, I started an implementation with a brilliant new team. Great Visionary owner, amazing industry passion, fantastic culture. But within five minutes, I spotted my guy. (Well, two guys, but one stood out in particular.)

His arms were crossed. His expression was a lockbox.

I directed much of my initial energy toward him. Not to single him out, but to let him know subtly… I see you. I get it.

If you know real EOS implementation, you know we start with foundational teaching. But after a few hours of download, we shift into the heavy lifting:

  • Building a clear Accountability Chart
  • Setting sharp Quarterly Priorities (Rocks)
  • Establishing a Level 10 meeting pulse
  • Defining real, forward-looking Scorecard metrics

As we started assigning names to priorities and establishing weekly accountability, I saw a shift. He perked up.

His face didn’t break expression all day, though. So when we reached the end-of-day conclude and asked for feedback. Were expectations met? Day rating from 1–10? Then, I held my breath.

“I didn’t have expectations because I didn’t want to be here anyway,” he said. “And I rate the day an 8 only because everyone else rated it a 10.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. “Fair enough, thanks for the honesty.”

Then he cracked a slight grin.

“I’m kidding. Once you got past the first two hours of bullshit, we actually did some really good work. We defined things that should have been done months ago. My real rating is a 10. I thought this was going to be another corporate exercise, but this is different.”

Here’s the truth. EOS isn’t a seminar or a passive workshop. It’s a operational system that forces execution through real accountability.

I love having naysayers in the room. They’re a speed bump at first, but once they realize the system is designed to eliminate friction and get shit done, the biggest skeptic almost always becomes the system’s biggest champion.

Decision Rights

“A company that cannot operate without its owner isn’t a business. It’s a highly compensated job.”

That line from this Forbes article is the whole thing.

I meet owners every month who built something impressive and then found out they had bought themselves the hardest job in town. Every decision routes through them. Growth stops at the edge of one person’s calendar.

The article makes one point I would underline twice. This is not a delegation problem, it is a decision rights problem. Handing someone a task is not the same as handing them the authority to decide.

Start with who owns what. Then decide what they get to decide without you.

You built a company. Make sure it does not (or did not) turn into a job.

More Than the Tools

Tomorrow, I start a new EOS journey with a new client, and I’m fired up.

They’ve used some EOS tools before, which means they’ve already seen glimpses of what clarity, discipline, and accountability can do.

And now comes the exciting part: running the full EOS process, purely.

Because EOS is not about grabbing a few tools and hoping they stick. It’s about helping the leadership team get 100% on the same page with their Vision, gain real Traction, and become a more Healthy, cohesive team.

That’s when the tools stop feeling like separate pieces and start working together as a complete system.

Tomorrow is day one of that journey. Simple. Practical. Real. And, I believe, incredibly fruitful.

The Growth Ceiling

A great idea can get your business off the ground. But it won’t get it to the next level.

When entrepreneurs start out, they are fueled by passion, a killer product, or a stellar service. And that hustle works but only up to a point.

As you grow from 5 employees to 20, 30, or 40, a major shift happens. Without a definitive system and culture in place, everyone starts executing based on their own past experiences. Suddenly, you have dozens of people doing things vastly different ways.

The secret to breaking through that growth ceiling? Installing a system.

When you build a consistent operating system for your business, you unlock:

  • Scalability: True growth without the chaos.
  • Profitability & Efficiency: Less wasted time, better margins.
  • Customer Satisfaction: Your market gets the best version of your business, every single time.

Watch the video on LinkedIn to see why consistency is the ultimate growth hack.

Process Documentation Matters!

Why Process Documentation Matters More Than You Think

When I was in college, I didn’t learn much about process efficiency. It just wasn’t a focus.

But I did learn something else that stuck with me.

While I was at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, I spent time aboard the TS Patriot State, our training ship. As cadets, we had to do real work, including changing out boiler fuel burners while underway.

It wasn’t simple work. It requires coordination, timing, and attention to detail. And like a lot of things back then, the process depended heavily on who was involved.

Looking back, one thing is clear.

It would have been a lot more efficient and a lot less stressful if we had a simple, shared process that everyone followed the same way every time.

That lesson didn’t fully click until later.

In the late 1990s, when I joined Caterpillar, I was introduced to process efficiency in a whole new way. I remember learning from Ben Graham and others that how you do something matters just as much as what you do.

And there was another lesson that showed up again and again.

We could not rely on a system to fix a broken process.

At Caterpillar, and later working with dealers, we had to spend the time getting the process right first. We had to understand the best way to do the work, document it, train it, and prove that it worked.

Only then did it make sense to bring in a system to support it.

If you skip that step, the system doesn’t solve the problem. It just makes a bad process run faster.

From there, I spent most of my career helping teams document, train, and follow better processes. And I kept seeing the same pattern.

When processes are clear, teams move faster.
When processes are followed, mistakes go down.
When processes are taught, people gain confidence.

But when processes live only in someone’s head, everything slows down.

Why Documentation Matters

If you want to grow, you need to be consistent. And consistency comes from documented processes.

Without documentation:

  • Every person does things their own way
  • Training takes longer
  • Mistakes happen more often
  • Growth becomes harder

With documentation:

  • Work gets done the same way every time
  • New people ramp up faster
  • Leaders can step away without things breaking
  • The business can scale

Keep It Simple. The 20/80 Rule

One mistake I see a lot is overcomplicating process documentation.

You don’t need a 50-page manual. You need clarity.

In EOS, we focus on the core processes that drive your business. This is where the 20/80 rule comes in.

Document the 20 percent of steps that drive 80 percent of your results.

At an entrepreneurial level, that usually means:

  • A few key processes
  • Clear, simple steps
  • Easy to follow by anyone on the team

If it’s too complex, people won’t use it. And if people don’t use it, it doesn’t work.

How This Connects to EOS

In EOS, the Process Component is all about getting your “way” of doing things out of your head and into a system.

We call them your core processes. They are the handful of things your business must do well every time.

When those processes are:

  • Documented
  • Simple
  • Followed by all

That’s when you start to see real traction.

Final Thought

I didn’t learn this in a classroom.

I learned it on a ship, in the field, and by working with teams who had to get it right.

If you want your business to grow without chaos, start with your processes.

Get them right first.
Then use systems to support them.
Keep them simple.
Teach them to your team.

And most importantly, follow them.

The Ultimate Core Value

Why Your Legacy is the Ultimate Core Value.

I just ordered a copy of “Legacy Letters” by Chris Hodges, and I’m struck by a powerful realization before I’ve even turned the first page.

Chris is the Founding Pastor of Church of the Highlands and Chancellor at Highlands College, where my daughter is currently studying Pastoral Ministry. Through her eyes, I’ve seen the impact of his leadership…a relentless passion for faith, ministry, and the success of every student.

As an EOS Implementer, I spend my days helping leadership teams define their Core Values and their Vision. What I’ve learned is this: You cannot lead a purposeful company if you aren’t living a purposeful life.

The principles Chris writes about, things like putting first things first and investing in relationships, are the spiritual and personal versions of what we call Traction.

In life, we call it a “Legacy.”

In business, we call it a “Vision.”

Both require the same thing: Discipline and Accountability. I’m excited to dive into these “Legacy Letters” to see how these timeless principles can help the entrepreneurs I work with move from just running a business to building something that lasts.

Success is great, but Significance is the goal.

Watch Out!

The Most Dangerous Time for Your Business is Right After a Record Month.

I recently saw a client hit the best month in their company’s history. They are flying high, and they should be; they’ve done the hard work of Focus Day and Vision Building.

But as an EOS Implementer, this is where I enter the danger.

When things are going well, the temptation is to let up. You think, “We’ve got this figured out. Maybe we can skip the L10 meeting this week. We don’t need to obsess over the scorecard right now.”

That is exactly how companies hit the ceiling.

Success isn’t a reason to abandon the process; it’s proof that the process works. The magic isn’t in the record-breaking numbers, it’s in the meeting pulse and the accountability that created those numbers.

If you want to turn a great month into a great company, stay obsessed with the fundamentals:

1. Keep your pulse: Don’t cancel your L10s because you’re too busy being successful.
2. Watch the data: Your scorecard tells you why you succeeded so you can repeat it.
3. Focus on Rocks: Don’t let a big win distract you from your 90-day priorities.

Celebrate the wins, then get back to the work. That’s how you build traction.