Ambition isn’t enough. Business success relies on actions that achieve real results.

Key Takeaways:

• Vision and traction are integral – Vision sets the direction, while traction ensures the path is followed earnestly and effectively. Both elements are crucial to achieve entrepreneurial success.
• The EOS framework provides structured execution through tools like the Level 10 Meetings, the People Analyzer, and the EOS Scorecard, facilitating regular reviews, goal-setting, and accountability.
• Ensuring every team member shares the same core values and understands their role is vital for maintaining organizational integrity and effectiveness.
• Adopting the principles of EOS propels organizations towards their 10-year targets and nurtures a culture of sustained growth and aligned ambition, turning visionary dreams into everyday reality.

Every entrepreneurial journey starts with a vision—an idea or concept visualized by those who dream of creating something impactful. This vision acts as a beacon, guiding the journey from concept to reality. However, envisioning success and achieving it are vastly different elements of entrepreneurship.

Vision is the heartbeat of entrepreneurial ambition. Without it, businesses meander aimlessly. However, the reality is that vision alone won’t keep a company afloat. Action – executed consistently and effectively – is what turns ideas into results.

In his influential work, “Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business,” Gino Wickman succinctly captures this dichotomy with the phrase, “Vision without traction is hallucination.” This acknowledgment of the necessity for actionable steps that transform vision into measurable progress is a key point in the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS) framework. The framework presents a straightforward yet practical system that marries vision with traction, weaving clarity, discipline, and accountability into the organizational fabric.

Understanding Vision and the EOS approach

For entrepreneurs and their leadership teams, vision is not just a goal but the foundational blueprint of the enterprise. It defines what the organization aspires to achieve and how it distinguishes itself in a competitive marketplace.

As an entrepreneur, you can have a vision for your company, but it won’t do you much good if you’re the only one who sees it clearly.

Everyone has a vision for their company. The problem is that each of your employees has a vision that could be completely different from yours. It’s important to align everyone so they are not pulling in different directions. When our organizations are aligned and focused, the company can gain traction to achieve the vision. 

Build a unified vision with the Vision/Traction organizer

The goal is to get your vision out of your head, and 8 questions can help everyone see and agree on where your organization is going and how you will get there. The EOS Method provides this as a tool called the V/TO, the Vision/Traction Organizer, which answers the following 8 questions to clarify and align the team’s vision:

1. What are our core values?
   Core values define company culture, defining how you do things. Pick three to five core values that you would use to surround yourself with people who are the right fit to get things done the way you want them done. Core values aren’t mere words: They are living, breathing elements of day-to-day life in the company.
2. What is our core focus?
   Once core values have been set, it’s time to get everyone moving down the same path, focused and undistracted from the shared purpose. Your leadership team will use this core focus to make all its decisions, keeping things on track and not deviating from objectives.
3. What is our 10-year target?
   Jim Collins, author of the book “From Good to Great,” calls this the Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal, so outrageous you don’t need to justify it. It’s where you want to be in 10 years. Think big – we always underestimate what we can accomplish in 10 years and overestimate what we can do in one. If you maintain focus, what big goal will you accomplish 10 years from today?
4. What is our marketing strategy?
   You know how and why you do things, and you have a 10-year target. It’s time to define how you will get there by focusing on your marketing and sales efforts. Define your target audience and compose the compelling message you’ll deliver.
5. What is our 3-Year Picture?
   What should things look like when you’re three years into your 10-year target? Make a bulleted list of measurable indicators so your team knows you have progressed. Use a measurable that is not revenue or profit. List five to 15 measurable points that give a clear sense of what the business will look like 36 months from now.
6. What is our 1-Year Plan?
   You should be seeing a pattern. You’re going from 10 years to three years to one year. In this step, you’ll define three to seven goals for this year that will move you toward achieving the bullet points in the three-year picture.
7. What are our quarterly Rocks?
   Here’s where you touch ground with your lofty ideas. The one-year plan is now focused on the next 13-week period. What are your highest priorities for the next 13 weeks that will move you a quarter of the way toward accomplishing your one-year plan?
8. What are our issues?
   You’ve been specific in each step of this exercise and reached the point where your focus is on the next 13 weeks. But there will be issues on the table to discuss and solve in future quarters – this step is where you will list them, so they’re readily available when it is the right time to address them.

The importance of alignment

The “blind men and the elephant” analogy aptly illustrates the dangers of misalignment. Like the blind men who each describe the elephant differently based on the part they touch, team members might perceive the organizational goal differently if not properly aligned. The V/TO tool ensures everyone grasps the ‘whole elephant’, promoting cohesive teamwork.

What Traction is and Why It’s Crucial

Traction is the bridge between vision and reality. It ensures that the leadership team doesn’t just dream big but also executes with precision. Traction is the pragmatic aspect of the EOS framework, acting as the bridge between visionary ideas and tangible outcomes. It represents the leadership’s capability to execute strategies effectively, consistently, and effectively.

EOS increases organizational traction through structured execution. This involves setting precise, measurable goals and ensuring Rocks are the focal point for every team during a given quarter.

Align Vision and Traction Through The Meeting Pulse

Meetings are not mere administrative formalities but strategic sessions that align daily tasks and broader vision. The EOS model structures these interactions to avoid the pitfalls of unproductive meetings. Meetings are often seen as a drain, but the EOS Meeting Pulse turns them into productive, results-driven gatherings that align vision with daily execution.

Quarterly Pulse meetings

Quarterly Pulse meetings are designed to review the progress made in the last 13 weeks, re-engage with your vision, establish the next quarter’s rocks, and tackle the key issues. A lot can happen in 90 days, and it is not uncommon for your leadership team to slide off track. The Quarterly Pulse helps the leadership team zoom in on the big picture to return focus and alignment to the vision. Keeping in mind the big picture, the team can evaluate and establish a plan to tackle the challenges.

The goal is to continuously progress towards the ultimate Vision – working as a team to solve issues and meeting the goals set in the 1-year plan, 3-year picture, and the 10-year target.

Level 10 meetings

The weekly Level 10 meetings™ represent the 13-week sprint to the finish line – crushing the goals set in the Quarterly Pulse meetings. When you adopt the EOS Level 10 Meeting Agenda, you’ll have a successful weekly meeting. The structure of the Level 10 meeting is designed to optimize your meeting efficiency, eliminate rabbit holes, and create a dedicated space for solving real issues. There are seven key components to the Level 10 meeting:

1. Segue. Allow each team member to highlight a personal or business-related accomplishment that occurred during the last week – this should take no longer than 5 minutes.
2. Scorecard. Go through and update your weekly scorecard with any new metrics for each team member.
3. Rock Review. Each member of your team will run through their goals and state whether they are on track or off track. There should be no discussion here: any issues should be added to the list.
4. Headlines. Ask each attendee to give a one-sentence update on customer or employee-focused headlines or spotlights.
5. To-Do List. Run through any pending action items from the last meeting and ask employees to state if they are ‘done’ or ‘not done.’ Again, there should be no discussion – add any issues to the issues list. The goal is to have 90% of those to-do’s done.
6. IDS. This is the heart of the meeting and where issues get resolved. Start with the highest priority issue and go through the IDS method. Identify. Discuss. Solve. This section of the meeting is the most important and also the longest. Allow up to 60 minutes to work through issues as a team. Have good discussions, but the objective is to come up with a solution, and the to-do’s are required to implement the solution.
7. Recap. In the last five minutes of the meeting, recap the to-do list and determine if there are any cascading messages for other people who are not in the meeting. Then, have each team member rate the meeting on a scale of one to 10. The goal is for every meeting to score an average above 8.

The Level 10 meeting is critical to successfully implementing EOS, serving as a weekly reminder of what you are working toward and how you will get there. The mastery of these meetings is what will lead you to achieve traction. Implement one component – like tracking weekly measurables – to immediately improve meeting effectiveness.

Integrating Vision and Traction for Results

Vision paired with effective execution cultivates real-world results. Tools like weekly scorecards create accountability and enable the leadership team to monitor progress and adjust tactics promptly.

Traction is execution. You can plan forever, but you fail if you don’t execute the plan. Traction is the rhythm and pace we set to bring all components to life. When each department successfully defines its rocks and powerfully executes these weekly and quarterly meetings, you’ve achieved traction at its fullest potential.

Vision and traction are not competing forces; they are complementary. Together, they create clarity, momentum, and results.

Tools for Implementing Vision and Traction

The tools available within EOS help embed the principles of vision and traction into daily operations, reinforcing overall strategic goals. These include:

• The People Analyzer. The People Analyzer enables you to cut through hiring complexity to easily identify if someone is a cultural fit for your vision and is in the right seat.
• The EOS Scorecard. Track weekly activity-based numbers to bring clarity and accountability to your team for their measurables. With the scorecard, you’ll track leading indicators to stay ahead of issues and compare team weekly numbers against weekly goals.
• The 5-5-5 Tool™. By using the 5-5-5 Tool, you’ll improve your quarterly conversations with direct reports. You’ll openly discuss what’s working and what’s not and highlight opportunities for improvement in three key areas: core values, roles, and Rocks. 

A Success Story

Fran Biderman-Gross is the CEO of Advantages, an award-winning NYC-based agency that crafts strategic communications for a variety of client companies. Fran strives to create the work environment she wanted for herself when she was younger.

She actively promotes mentorship, encourages learning, and pays for it as an investment in her people. One of her leadership evolutions involved learning to communicate her vision effectively and then trusting the team to align around it. 

Fran turned to EOS to improve processes, people, communications, metrics, and various other aspects of her agency. It’s not the only system she’s tried in her 30-year-plus E-Volution, but Fran describes it as an immensely “stabilizing influence.” Hiring The Profit Recipe as an EOS Implementor® also taught her a few things.

“After going through so many systems and consultants, what I liked most about EOS is that it is simple and scalable,” she says. “I was extracted from leading every meeting, and it enabled me to lead, not manage.”

EOS also helps Advantages execute its vision and avoid “shiny object syndrome.” As her EOS Implementer, The Profit Recipe spurs the company to look at structure first, create buy-in, and focus on priorities instead of “every whim [Fran] has as the leader.”

“It just made it easier for me to be at my best, doing what I do best,” Fran says. “Which is not managing or micromanaging people.”

Today, Advantages has expanded its services to provide clients the equivalent of hiring a chief marketing officer – with Advantages, companies can now obtain an external CMO who provides services that grow with the organization. With EOS and The Profit Recipe, she says, “I got a street-smart education and learned by failure, reading, and doing. And at a certain point, I learned by hiring experts who are smarter than me.”

Make Your Vision Reality with Traction

The entrepreneurial journey is as much about effective execution as it is about grand visions. EOS is essential for transforming lofty visions into tangible outcomes by integrating vision and traction.

This system stresses the importance of clarity, discipline, and accountability and presents practical tools and structured meetings to ensure each team member’s alignment and focus toward common organizational goals. 

The Profit Recipe is here to support your journey. We’ve taught leaders of all stripes to be more self-aware, embrace their vulnerability, and learn to delegate effectively to lead by design, not by accident. We understand the leadership skills entrepreneurs need for success, and we can show you how to elevate your company and your team.

New and experienced leaders can become the kind of coaches and managers who direct valuable teams that create traction and drive growth. Let us support your entrepreneurial journey –schedule a call with one of our experts today or send us a message.