Operationally Speaking

The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) is a complete, well proven and coherent suite of tools and processes that enable owners, CEOs and leaders get what they want out of their business. At its core, EOS is all about strengthening exactly six key components of the business. In this episode, we will deep dive into one of them, the TRACTION component, and distinguish the Why, What and How of strengthening it through examples, stories, successes, failures, and a bit of explanation, too. Tune in and have a pen and paper ready. You'll love it!

Vivaldi has a very enthusiastic user base. We work really closely with our users. We take their input and they help us test and translate and even spread the word. Thus, we create communities, both inside our organization, as well as outside it. Why do we do that? How do we do that? What are the outcomes? In this episode, we're exploring these and other questions.

With over 100 businesses invested in, Mark Abbott has learned a lot about how successful ones operate, and especially why the other ones don't quite cut it. In this conversation, we'll explore the why, what and how of operating Intelligent Businesses. It's all about transformation, operating system, leadership, leaders, management, mindset and platforms.

There are four aspects to building a business: 1) Operational Excellence; 2) Customer Experience; 3) Talent Development; and 4) Financial Performance. Each of these quadrants requires good decision-making skills – and they are not just cognitive decisions, they involve emotional attributes as well. Words like happiness, inspiration, potential, praise, joy, achievement, positive, etc come to mind.

CEOs approach decision-making very differently – there is no one preferred method. Some are methodical, pulling out different tools to help them work through the possibilities, akin to a doctor taking a blood test. Some use their judgement, instincts and other techniques they have grown to love. In many respects, CEOs are like physicians, they make decisions based upon a total clinical assessment.

How do emotions play in each of these four quadrants of a business?

Nobody has ever argued that being the CEO of an entrepreneurial, growing company is challenging, in the least. But being a virtual CEO? How do you align everybody around a common vision? How do you create and maintain a coherent culture? How do you keep a pulse on everything that's going on across time zones? How do you maintain accountability? We'll explore these and other questions with one of the most successful entrepreneurial virtual CEOs around. Don't miss it!

Have you ever heard of the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS? If you haven’t, great! If you have, great! In this conversation, Debra Niewald and I answer a few of the frequently asked questions we get about the what, how and especially why of EOS. Get ready!

Do you wish you could simplify working with different generations? Generational stereotypes limit our ability to harness the best from everyone at the table. Sue and her daughter, Alexandra, share how to unlock potential from all generations by engaging everyone around shared values. They also share how to gracefully communicate through the tough stuff and set clear expectations. We provide actionable practices to conquer self-doubt while maximizing your success.

Do you want to know what key relationship sets the foundation for a successful organization? We'll define two essential leadership roles in ANY entrepreneurial organization, and explain the importance of the Visionary/Integrator dynamic. We'll will relay the real truth about this unique partnership and how this alliance can propel a company to prosperity.

Receiving the highest possible valuation for the sale of your business is the dream of most entrepreneurs. But what do you need to do to maximize valuation? Needless to say, a profitable business that runs extremely well is much more appealing to acquirers. Yet how do you make your business profitable and get your entrepreneurial organization running like a well-oiled machine. It turns out that one of the fundamentals to doing so lays where you expect it least: in the organization’s Core Values and all the people-related parts of the business that are connected to it!

Countless managers and executives get fed up with their boss, who seems incapable of holding their peers accountable for getting things done. Some bosses might be too nice. Others fear conflict, and either never do anything, or do nothing until they blow up in anger. The business suffers along with every productive employee.

Contrast this with high-performing teams, where every team member feels accountable to every other teammate, and where the boss rarely must play the “heavy”. Where the most important projects get done on time and team members admit mistakes openly, ask each other for help and receive it.

In our conversation, we're focusing on how to increase accountability within leadership teams of midsized businesses. The answer does not require the boss to get a personality transplant.