Coffee With E

The Entrepreneur's Blueprint for Success

• Erica Rawls

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In this insightful episode, we sit down with Steven King, an expert in Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), to break down how businesses can achieve clarity, accountability, and long-term success. Stephen shares his expertise on how EOS helps businesses—whether at a breaking point or thriving—to get unstuck and reach their full potential.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

✅ What EOS is and how it works – A simple yet powerful framework for scaling and organizing businesses.
✅ Why companies struggle with growth – The common challenges businesses face and how EOS provides a clear roadmap to overcome them.
✅ How to implement EOS effectively – Practical steps to bring structure, accountability, and a strong vision into your business.
✅ The power of core values – Why defining and aligning your team with core values leads to better hiring, stronger culture, and improved decision-making.
✅ Why titles can be a distraction – The importance of focusing on roles and accountability rather than job titles for better team collaboration.

Bonus Resources:

  • Free Chapter of Traction: Enhance your understanding of business growth strategies by downloading a free chapter of Traction.
  • Connect with Steve King: For further insights or inquiries, please reach out to Steve King at steve.king@eosworldwide.com.

If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur looking for a proven system to gain control, align your team, and achieve growth, this episode is a must-listen! 

Tune in now and discover how EOS can help take your business to the next level! Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave us a review if you find value in this conversation. 

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Steven King:

We're trying to find what we call our people issues. If someone's not the right person meaning they're not a core value fit or they're not in the right seat they're not in the seat. That's right for them. The organization and the accountability chart, but with the visionary and the integrator, again, they're always aligned. We're always working to make sure they're completely aligned on where that organization is going. So they're letting go of accountability, but they're also letting go so they can thrive more as the integrator. So, ultimately, though, it starts with structure. What do we need from that visionary seat? Let's make sure we have the right person in it. But you used the word clarity before. Yeah, eos is one of those things that, just like it's all the fog out of the room. It just finds all the clarity for how we're at our best in execution.

Erica Rawls:

Welcome to another episode of Coffee with Eve, where we have extraordinary conversations in luxury homes. Today, we have the privilege of speaking with Stephen King. No, not the author of Everyone Knows Hollywood star. We have someone even better. Did you ever try to build a house without a blueprint? You can't right. Well, the same exact thing can be said about building a business. Now, stephen King. We had the privilege of meeting him for the first time at an EOS. What does that stand for? Eos training, entrepreneurial operating system training, and when I tell you I was blown away, so I know a little bit about it. It's actually the founder is Gino Wickman, and read his books. You may be familiar with traction. However, speaking with Steven, I just need you to sit back, get your coffee, turn it up in your car if you're driving, because this one is going to be a good one, I promise you. Ready, let's go, stephen.

Steven King:

Erica, good to see you.

Erica Rawls:

I'm so excited to have you.

Steven King:

I hope you're not disappointed. I'm not the Stephen King.

Erica Rawls:

The Stephen King when it comes to EOS Implementer in our area. Can I?

Steven King:

tell you something real quick, though, sure. So last we met a couple weeks ago at this EOS workshop. You mentioned it and the host I was. You know where it was in the area. Someone came down from that organization and said I need to kind of step into that. I heard Stephen King was going to be here. Are you serious? I said I'm sorry, it disappoints me. And they weren't sure they're like Stephen King's what the event was. I said you're happy to stay? I'd love for you to learn about EOS. So here you go.

Erica Rawls:

I love it, so can we please start off with your journey? Yeah, because I think it's important that people know who you are and how you got to what we're going to talk about.

Steven King:

Sure, okay, yeah Well, thanks for having me here. Let me say that, to start, love being here. Thanks for taking time of your day to spend with me. So my journey journey to entrepreneur, work to EOS what's helpful to jump into?

Erica Rawls:

Into the EOS world.

Steven King:

Yes, okay. So I discovered EOS so Entrepreneur Operating System when I was working. Well, I was working in higher education for a number of years, okay, and then transitioned out of that into entrepreneurial work. I joined a company that's actually in this area called Soccer Shots. So I joined that company. And when I joined that company I joined the Harrisburg and York franchise of Soccer Shots. It was a national company, even kind of all across North America at that time when I joined it and I was running the franchise here in this area, the Harrisburg York franchise.

Steven King:

When I joined that company, they handed me a copy of this book called Traction you mentioned already. They said, hey, we do this thing called EOS. We need you to learn what this is. You're the integrator. We're hiring you to be the executive director, but in EOS terms that's integrator to run the business.

Steven King:

And so when I read Traction before I joined that organization, I was on a flight back and forth from Dallas, read that book in a couple hours and just the light bulbs went on. It was something that just connected with me and like, where has this been? I've been looking for it in my professional career up to that point, all the organizational leadership I'd done to that point. Traction just spoke to me in so many ways. So it was then running that company using EOS, using the tools for a number of years, just fell in love with what EOS is, how the tools work, how it's designed, how it helped me become a better leader and manager, helped me grow professionally in the role that I was fulfilling with that company and inspired me to become what's called an EOS implementer. So now I work as a coach and a teacher, a facilitator of that system, with other entrepreneurial companies.

Erica Rawls:

Okay, wonderful. So you know your stuff, I know you do, so we're going to just break it down for the people that do not understand what the heck is EOS.

Steven King:

It's just one of the titles of a book in the US library and I like the way you slipped that in there. I did not mean to do that. I know that was pretty good, though that was sly Okay.

Erica Rawls:

Yes, so what is it?

Steven King:

no-transcript vision. We'll be aligned on the vision. They really execute that vision with what we call traction right, it's the title of one of our books Really get aligned on that vision and execute with traction. And so EOS as a system it's just a comprehensive collection of proven practical tools to help business leaders, the owners of those businesses, their leadership teams, really just get aligned on what they want from their business and to execute it with all their people. So it is really a blueprint to run a business. There's a number of other metaphors I could use too. I oftentimes say it's a little bit of a recipe. It's kind of a recipe for how all the parts come together to orchestrate and harmonize all the moving parts of a business to better execute it.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah. So what I like about it? Because, being an entrepreneur myself, you get this great idea right, so I guess I call myself a visionary.

Steven King:

Sure OK.

Erica Rawls:

And I think most people that start a business they would feel as though they are the visionary Right. So when you have this great idea, you start executing it and then you're like, oh my gosh, ok, yeah, I'm successful, and yet it's chaotic. Successful and yet it's chaotic. Either you can't keep people or you can't hire the right people, or you do have people and they're the wrong people, and you may be profitable. You may not be profitable. So that's why I enjoy EOS, because it does give you the clarity, because we don't stop to think about the foundation piece first until after it's built. So, yeah, I'm just excited. I'm all over the place because I'm really excited and I just want everyone to know about it. So if you are a new business starting, where would you have them start?

Steven King:

With EOS With.

Erica Rawls:

EOS.

Steven King:

Yeah, so EOS can absolutely work with startups. You can work with companies that are just starting. It's primarily built for the companies that have a foundation underneath them. They're executing something. They just want to be better at it.

Steven King:

And I love the way you explained it too, describing yourself as a visionary. There's a lot of visionaries, that well one. We need visionaries to start companies right, and a lot of visionaries kind of do what you described, which is they start a company, have a great idea, they can make it happen, they can drive it so far, and then the way you describe yourself, the way this was your experience, really just a typical visionary. They kind of get stuck, they lose sight of what it is that they're doing in the company now and they're starting to have to build some structure around them to kind of execute the vision and not just themselves doing everything anymore. And EOS is one of these systems that comes along at a right time and says, hey, since you're a visionary, can we give you some tools that help you? Just have a little bit more discipline, a little bit more accountability, a little bit more focus for you and all of your team, but not kill the entrepreneurial spirit, not kill who you're wired as, as a visionary, and so visionary is a term that we use in EOS. We use the term visionary. We also use a term called integrator. I described that's the role I filled with that with Soccer Shots, harrisburg and York.

Steven King:

The visionary integrator is just this duo at the top of the organization and oftentimes when a visionary minded person who starts a company or is running the company, when they find EOS, one of the first things that they find from that angle is the value of oh, I need somebody alongside me running the day-to-day. That's not what I'm wired into and I love to do. I'm the visionary, I have big ideas. I love staying at 30,000 feet. I don't love the day-to-day leadership and management, conflict resolution that an integrator does. That's oftentimes one of the first kind of aha moments that visionaries have. So truly for the visionary, maybe that's right. For EOS, I would say well, one read Traction, use the tools Also. Yeah, connect with implementers, learn about EOS and start recognizing that you don't have to change who you are to continue running a great business, but you need to evolve it. You need to kind of implement some tools around you and some people around you in the business so you don't kind of get burned out from what you're doing, but still find new levels of success.

Erica Rawls:

Right. So when you read traction, people may be like, well, I don't even know where you say where to start. Is retraction?

Steven King:

Sure.

Erica Rawls:

Right. However, the principle of traction, I guess we can say do we start with our core values? Because a lot, of, a lot of people, when you start businesses, they only think about core value.

Steven King:

Sure Right. So where to start? With the tools? Maybe With the tools Okay.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, because I have this business and I wish I had this when I first started. Like, seriously, y'all, if you're listening and you're starting a business, or even if you're in the middle of the mess, this is something that you really want to listen to. I think it's important for us to drive home like the foundation piece so they're able to build on that. Like what is the foundational piece that they should start at? You know whether they're starting their new business or they're actually in the mess and want to restart sure, sure.

Steven King:

Yeah, that's great questions.

Steven King:

Let's go into the tools a little bit then, so not just where do I start with eos now I've become familiar with it but using the tools now, because EOS comprehensive toolbox and so where I would want companies to start with beyond just learning about EOS is start with what we call the foundational tools. Start with the accountability chart, which is recognizing that structure is a shift. It's an evolutionary moment in a company's history where you're changing from let's just go find great people and we're going to figure out what to do with them later, because that's oftentimes what great businesses do. When you start a company, you're changing from let's just go find great people and we're going to figure out what to do with them later, because that's oftentimes what great businesses do. When you start a company, you're like I just need some great people around me, let's go. We all done that and we can fall prey to that, even when that's not the right approach. I'll get to that here in just a moment why that can't be the right approach forever. We get great people, we plug them in, we figure out a way to try and just grow from there.

Steven King:

The accountability chart in EOS and the structure discipline there is actually shifting the mindset, saying we don't just need right people, we need right people, people we love, but they're in the right seats. So that's kind of a term borrowed from Jim Collins right people, right seats and the accountability chart structure. The tool in EOS is let's make sure we have a structure in place to get us to go where, to get us where we're going, not just where we've been or where we are breaking through the next ceiling of how we best execute together as a team. And so what are the seats in the organization? Where do we need accountability in the organization? Let's create structure first and then plug people into that. And that's a bit of a I could. You know there's a lot more to that, but there's. It's a shift, it's a mindset shift to build structure around you. So I'd say, start there.

Steven King:

There's other. The other four foundational tools are rocks, which are 90 day priorities. A great meeting pulse, which is really the discipline of limiting the number of me, like lessening the number of meetings we're having while increasing the overall quality of all the meetings that we're having. Having a great scorecard, using our data well and having a great VTO, which is kind of getting you into core values. That's part of the VTO. The Vision Traction Organizer, getting aligned on simplified strategic planning and vision planning for the organization that we're executing out of. So those are the five foundational tools. It's the VTO, the accountability chart, the rocks, the scorecard, integrated meeting polls. Those are the five foundational tools. Starting there is a great place for anyone to start when they're using AOS, whether they're younger in their business or they have 10, 20, 100 people. Those are the best tools to start with.

Erica Rawls:

So that accountability chart, when you implement that and you already have a, you know a business that's running, and you go through that process and you realize oh, I like, I really like Harry. I mean, I really like him Right.

Steven King:

Sure.

Erica Rawls:

But clearly he's in. You know the wrong seat. The wrong seat Like how does someone like how? What tool can you use within EOS to make it about? You know the facts and not necessarily I really like Harry.

Steven King:

Sure, sure, yeah, that's great. I love that you're. You're picking on Harry. I always pick on Bill. He's the hypothetical person in my head. My, the teams I work with, my clients are like man, bill must've been terrible. I was like as long as I don't have a Bill in the room, bill's my example, right, well, one.

Steven King:

It starts with that discipline. It starts with the belief in the tool and the methodology, the principle of the tool, that we need right people in the right seats. We need both of those things. So if we're after that together as a leadership team and then we're teaching the importance of that to all of our people, we are trying to remove the person from the issue. We want to be really hard on issues and really kind and soft on people. And so if Harry, for example, if he's not in the right seat, well, for his greater good and for the greater good of the organization, we want him to be in the right seat. And so, if he's not, we're also going to recognize, to the extent that we don't have right people in the right seats, we're going to get stuck in the organization. It's a matter of time, right, and so we're trying to find what we call our people issues. If someone's not the right person, meaning they're not a core value fit or they're not in the right seat.

Steven King:

They're not in the seat that's right for them. The organization and the accountability chart. If one of those things is not right, we want to be really quick to find those people issues and then solve them at the right time. So it doesn't mean that we need to fire Harry right away, but we just need to call out we have a people issue, we need to solve that people issue. Sometimes that does mean that as leaders and managers, we have to make those hard decisions, those tough decisions that if someone's not the right person, they shouldn't be in the organization.

Steven King:

If they don't fit our culture and our core values, they're probably doing more harm to us than they are good over the long period of time, even the short period of time, if they're not in the right seat, well, they're probably not really enjoying the job and performing at a level in a way that they already know about. Certainly. You know about it and a lot of team members know about it, right. So oftentimes like this is just these are issues that we're prone, not always because we're unhealthy, sometimes just because we're so busy. We're prone to take those issues and kind of just go ah, we'll deal with that later We'll just put up with Harry for as long as we can and we move Harry around to different seats, just hoping one kind of is the right one. But we're going to get stuck that way, right, and so if we're going to get stuck, we want to find those issues, and EOS is going to be a great spotlight to find those issues so we can solve them at the right time for the greater good of the organization.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, cause sometimes and I'm I like the way that you say it that, um, yeah, you, may you try to keep him in a seat that's not going to fit him or the organization, he don't be there for a while, but then eventually he's going to leave or you're going to have to terminate at some point because it just doesn't make sense. Yeah, and being a leader is making those hard decisions. So now I want to talk about, if we can, the VTO, sure VTO, which stands for Vision Traction.

Steven King:

Organizer. That's right. Yep, okay, yeah.

Erica Rawls:

The way that you explained it during our training was so eloquent because you said it was answering eight questions.

Steven King:

That's right, yeah, sorry.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, so what are those eight questions?

Steven King:

Yeah, so this is in EOS. This is our just proven way of simplifying strategic planning, and there's just a difference here, right, obviously, in our workshop.

Erica Rawls:

Which business owners. We don't like to do. We want to do the strategic planning part of it.

Steven King:

Some, some don't, some do, but for sure there's a lot of people in the organization that are just. They probably think you don't know where you're going as an organization Fair, that are just. They probably think you don't know where you're going as an organization Fair, right. So, whether we like to or not, we should be knowing where we're going. Yeah, and so there's a you know in EOS. Again, this is in the workshop.

Steven King:

We talked a lot about this, but I can maybe just in brief what makes it the entrepreneurial operating system is that it's the tools that work for unsurprisingly entrepreneurial companies, right, not corporations, not bureaucracies, right. And so there's been a lot of tools out there in the world. And even when Gina Wickman you mentioned his name before he's the founder of EOS when he built EOS at the beginning, he recognized there was this gap between corporations and entrepreneurial companies. And a lot of the tools out there, a lot of the trainings, a lot of the methodologies they were built for corporations and out there, a lot of the trainings, a lot of the methodologies they were built for corporations. And so a typical strategic planning retreat for a lot of organizations is let's go take two or three days, let's just go into the mountains somewhere, let's spend hours, if not maybe even a week or two, and let's just get big dreams. We want to find big dreams. We want to just cast where we're going and we start creating these 10 or 20 or 50 page strategic plans. That's actually built with a lot of great vision but doesn't actually show up in the day to day of the organization. Because corporations can kind of do that. In entrepreneurial companies there's not really a return on that investment. That's worth it to us. We want to find simplified strategic planning. We want to really focus on executing right. So that's traction right. In EOS we have the six key components of a business that we're strengthening Vision is one and traction is one. We want to turn vision into traction.

Steven King:

So the VTO, right, the eight questions of the VTO, it's the simplified strategic planning. It's alignment on the answers to eight questions and that's alignment starting at the top with the leadership team. So, truly, I've seen entrepreneurs that are solopreneurs, running a business by themselves. The VTO is helpful, the answers are helpful to get out of their minds and out of their head. Well, where am I going with this organization? What EOS is truly built for is the companies that have. They're approaching 10 or more people. So 10 to 250 employees. Where are we going as a team? We, the leaders of the organization, we got to be aligned on that, and then we have to go, lead our people to help us accomplish that vision over the short and the long period of time that's in front of us. So those eight questions, right? So there's my tee up, right.

Steven King:

What's the VTO? What are those eight questions? What are our core values? Which is really the timeless guiding principles that we expect from each other, that describe what behavior looks like, how we work together, the rules of engagement for our behavior with each other.

Steven King:

The core values of the organization and its internal tool for us to know about ourselves. Our core focus Some people call it mission statement or vision statement. We call it core focus. It's made up of two components why this business exists, like, what's our passion and what is it that we actually do. Again, helping us know internally what that is. And really I'd say let me pause. Those are two questions the core values and the core focus. Those are big ones though, yeah, and let me pause and say this as we work through these questions it's not that the answers don't exist Oftentimes they do, but they exist in slightly different ways in the minds of all of our team and so the alignment on the answers to these questions is so powerful.

Steven King:

So you know, I've worked with teams that core values they don't have them. Core focus they don't know really what they do. They're kind of like they're serving too many markets or they think they're trying to be all things to all people and you can't operate that way. You get stuck that way. But there's plenty of organizations I work with. They have a great culture, they have a great core focus and there's other answers to your question in a moment. They have these things but they can get better aligned on them. When you're better aligned you can better execute.

Steven King:

So core values and core focus what we call the 10-year target when are we going over the long haul? What's our North Star that we're chasing, our marketing strategy? Who is it that we're talking to? What's our message to them? To get the best return for our sales and marketing, energy and resources? Our three-year picture, three short years from now really, what does this organization look like? Really galvanize in our mind's eye. Where are we going as a team? It's an orientation of the direction in which we're heading. Then it's our one-year plan Over the next year. What are the true three to seven goals for the year? The most important things we have to execute over the next year are 90-day rocks. So every 90 days at a time we're going to focus on our priorities, always making sure that we're energized and focused on getting the most important things done in the organization.

Steven King:

And the eighth question is what we call the issues list. Like what are the big problems that we're trying to solve or the opportunities we're trying to take advantage of? Just get out of our mind all those things that usually get stuck in there. They're the obstacles that we need to overcome or the new ideas we need to implement. Let's get them out of our minds, put them down on paper together so we can be aligned on them together, so at the right time we can solve them, either to make a problem go away or take advantage of an opportunity. All right, so those are the eight questions of the VTO. I'll have to kind of unpack those more. Those are the eight questions of VTO and it's so powerful to get aligned on that and in EOS we have a rhythm and a cadence by which we're always updating the VTO, making sure that we're always just like a complete discipline and focus on being aligned together as a team Because, again, to the extent that we're more aligned, we can be better executing on that alignment.

Erica Rawls:

Hey, I'm hoping you're enjoying this episode of Coffee with E. I had to take 30 seconds to share with you one of our sponsors for this episode, top Construction. They are a premier construction company located in Central PA, so if you live in Dauphin, cumberland, lancaster and Lebanon counties, you want to check them out. Not only are they reliable, they are reasonable and they get the job done. Now let's go back to the episode. So, with the 10-year plan, are we revising that every year when we do our strategic planning sessions, or is that 10 years? That's something that we keep the same and we could just review it. Yeah, I don't know. If there's a recommendation, is there like a process or methodology to that?

Steven King:

Great question, right? So, when we said it at the beginning, as a team we're saying where's the business going over the long haul? Yeah, we want it to be something that's inspirational for us. We want to be energized to think about accomplishing it. We want it to be something that's inspirational for us. We want to be energized to think about accomplishing it. We want it to be something that unites the team, so it's not just the owner of the business.

Steven King:

You can certainly have a financial tenure target and say we want this company to 200, make sure your team is united around this thing. We're together going to accomplish this and it's also a catalyst for change. It's also something that makes you kind of scared. You kind of go like I have no idea how we're going to get there. We're going to have to change in order to make this possible. And that's a little bit of what we want, right, and we have it in place.

Steven King:

It can change over time. One when we hit it. So if we hit it, let's always make sure we send another 10-year target out, or sometimes is referred to as a core target. We don't know how long it's going to take us, whether it's eight years or 15 years in the future? We're not sure, but this is what we're after. Let's make sure we're always chasing something that's outside of our reach, the extent that we're doing that we're not going to get burned out from accomplishment, we're not going to get bored with what we're doing. So we may hit it. Let's change it. If it's ever wrong, we should change it. So if the team ever goes, you know this isn't really what we want to accomplish. I thought it was. We're kind of like we're not really inspired by this anymore. It or, if it becomes part of that three-year picture remember the fifth question of the VTO if it becomes so close to you that you're now just kind of three short years away from achieving it, let's make sure we send it out again.

Erica Rawls:

So it's always something that's kind of beyond our reach. So it's a working process, it's a walking or working breathing document.

Steven King:

Yeah, and it's really-.

Erica Rawls:

That we can use and change.

Steven King:

The VTO. Yeah, oh, for sure. Yeah, there's components of the VTO every 90 days and really the process of using EOS really well is every 90 days you're reviewing the VTO to make sure you're completely aligned on it, and there's some components of it that don't change every 90 days. They probably would change one year at a time or something, for example, of core values. They may not change for years at a time, if ever.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Steven King:

But there's some components that they are changing every 90 days or they're changing every year. So it's very much a dynamic document. It's a dynamic aspect of vision that a leadership team is always making sure they're aligned on.

Erica Rawls:

I like the fact that you said it's a team effort. Sure, Because as entrepreneurs, you know, we start our business and we see it as our babies right.

Steven King:

Sure.

Erica Rawls:

But in order for it to get to that 10 year whether it's, you know, profitability or something that's like intangible or some kind of impact that you want to make on a community it takes people.

Steven King:

That's right.

Erica Rawls:

It's not going to be something you can do on your own. So, and also I think it's important too we have a business to get buy-in Right, and one of the things that you said when we, when you, spoke to us, was that you may have to repeat it. Was that you or someone else? Now, I'm trying to think it may have been me where you're going with.

Steven King:

I mean, it's just something I do, yeah, teams.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, you may have to repeat it more than once.

Steven King:

Oh, for sure, yeah, you absolutely do. Okay, yeah, perfect yeah.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah. So I think it's important that people understand that the this EOS system that we have here, I like it because it's getting people's buy-in on the vision that you originally had and they're saying, hell, by the way, we can make it even more impactful by if we include this, so that 10 year picture could even be bigger than what you even thought and and just getting the buying of the people. They're going to want to execute and say, hey, did we think about this? Did you think about that? Right, and being okay with that? Right, because I think one of the books was even saying or actually you even said that you know the visionary, just, you know we have to listen to the integrator, right? They're the ones that are going to be making the decisions.

Steven King:

Sure.

Erica Rawls:

Integrators leaders in an organization. They are decision makers. They're the decision makers, yeah, so you better make sure you get a good integrator, is what I'm hearing.

Steven King:

Yes, absolutely and really they are pivotal, they are key. Yeah, and in EOS we want everyone to be great at making decisions and, for sure, the integrator is the one who oftentimes refer them as a tiebreaker. They're the one that's. They're integrated. Why would we call it an integrator? By the way, in EOS we care so much about function, not primarily titles, and so when you think about the vision of the organization, they have great vision. They're usually usually the owner of an organization or one of the owners, but the integrator is the one that's getting so aligned with that visionary to know what the plan is and where they're going, and then integrating that vision across the leadership team. That's what I call them the integrator. They're integrating the vision across the leadership team and helping that team execute. They're leading that team. So oftentimes they are a decision maker or an eyebreaker. They're the one that's making critical decisions for the organization. I love that you mentioned people a moment ago. That oftentimes is a moment coming indicator of when EOS is right for a team.

Steven King:

When a team is growing I've said it more than two times now like to 10 or around somewhere around 10 or more people, you're starting to have subsets of people in the organization. No longer can that one person at the top really truly effectively just puppet everybody. They need to kind of create layers of leadership, even if just the initial layer of leadership. If you have 10 people where there's subsets, there's kind of departments showing up in the organization, and EOS is devised in this way to make sure you're getting everybody aligned, all of your people aligned on the vision.

Steven King:

Because one of the frustrations that leaders can have organizations is people right, and without people they're not in business. And yet it can feel like no one cares as much about the vision as much as they do. Leading and managing people can be frustrating to do. It's holding people accountable is frustrating to do, whereas EOS brings in these tools, these methodologies, to make sure you're always aligned on your vision at the top but then communicating that vision to everybody across the organization, helping them understand the importance of the vision, helping them elect to want to be part of the vision and understanding their role in the vision. And when you're doing that with all of your people, your people become. They always have been your greatest asset, but now you're starting to actually feel the success of that.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah. So give us an example where the person that started the business was the integrator. Okay, they had to hire the visionary, and how does that work?

Steven King:

Yeah.

Erica Rawls:

Because you can be a great integrator, but you may not have great vision.

Steven King:

Sure.

Erica Rawls:

And the opposite could be true too. You have the visionary, you have to hire the integrator.

Steven King:

Sure.

Erica Rawls:

Visionary has to let go, sure, but in some capacity, won't the integrator have to let go too when the visionary comes on board?

Steven King:

Yeah, Right, so to answer that question.

Erica Rawls:

Well, first I want to make sure that a visionary is needed.

Steven King:

Not every organization truly needs a visionary. Oh wow, Right, Most do, but not everyone. And oftentimes you know a visionary if we're not careful. A team can think well, because I have the most ideas or because I have the biggest ideas, I must be the visionary. Not necessarily the case, right. So a visionary is someone who we need to function like the visionary for the organization. So, depending on the industry they're in or the rate of change that they're in in their industry, depending on the amount of vision that's really needed, the new ideas, the big problem solving, maybe solutions across your industry or, more comprehensively than that, across industries then a visionary oftentimes is needed. We have a great and maybe we can go as much into this as you want to, but Rocket Fuel is one of the books in our library for how we really go deep on that visionary integrator relationship. And so not every organization needs a visionary. To answer your question, to the extent that an integrator maybe someone who starts a company goes well, I am an integrator, I love the day-to-day, I love leading and managing people, but I'm not a visionary. But we need a visionary in this organization. I need to go find someone Sure, that's probably unique and doesn't happen as frequently, but it can happen.

Steven King:

It starts with structure. It starts with that accountability chart. Well, what do we need from that visionary seat and now let me go look internally or externally for that person to come in and join the team, who's going to be that ideas-minded person? Who's going to be the person that is bringing solutions to us, initiatives to us, opportunities to us? What's beyond our scope of doing it, beyond maybe my scope as the integrator? So that could happen.

Steven King:

And when that happens, there is something that's letting go of the vine there a little bit, where you mentioned that. How do they let go? Well, they have to let go, really, of the accountability of being that ideas person, being that visionary person for the organization, and trusting that person who's now above them on the accountability chart to fill that role. But with the visionary and the integrator, again, they're always aligned. We're always working to make sure they're completely aligned on where that organization is going. So they're letting go of accountability, but they're also letting go so they can thrive more as the integrator. So, ultimately, though, it starts with structure. What do we need from that visionary seat? Let's make sure we have the right person in it.

Erica Rawls:

And they're having those same page meetings.

Steven King:

Yeah, the visionary integrator, have what we call same page meetings, right? So part of the meeting pulse I mentioned meeting pulse before is one of the five tools, five foundational tools of EOS. We want all of our meetings to be great meetings. By the way, we want to have less meetings, or at least the right number of meetings, which oftentimes for most organizations when they start EOS, they start finding that most, not most, so many of their meetings are not needed. They're wasted meetings. It's just fine, right. So let's get rid of some meetings but also increase the overall quality of meetings. So meetings and meeting pulse shows up in different ways in the organization. The same page meeting is the visionary integrator getting completely on the same page all the time and the cadence of that might be monthly, it might be weekly, it might be biweekly, but make sure they're completely aligned on the vision so that integrator is going to lead and execute that vision and manage that vision across the leadership team.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, that's so good, so good. So who is EOS not?

Steven King:

for? Oh, that's a great question, right? Yeah, because EOS is not for everybody.

Erica Rawls:

It's not for everybody?

Steven King:

It's really not, yeah. So EOS just to circle back to what we said before, eos tools can work well for companies that are in startup phase or they have five or less people or seven or less people. The tools can work because it's a toolbox, and so you may open up a toolbox and say, hey, here's a better hammer. It's a better way to set goals over the course of a year. It's a better way to get aligned on priorities every 90 days at a time. Oh, here's a great way to run a better meeting.

Steven King:

So we're actually solving issues in meetings, not just wasting our time at a meeting going like why do we even meet? Our meetings are terrible, our agendas are bad, nobody does anything after them. Like, there's better tools in the toolbox that can help anybody. So I want to like not speak to them as much anymore. Well, I certainly can, but not in the answer to this question, right?

Steven King:

So as we think about the teams that are right for EOS, they're really at 10 or more employees and 10 and really 250. I work with teams that have vastly more than 250 employees and large organizations can run really well on EOS. So it's really that 10 employee to 250 employee. That's really a sweet spot. If you're in that sweet spot, why would EOS not be right for you? Well, one, because it's going to bring a certain amount of discipline, accountability and focus that a leadership team needs to embrace before you'd expect it from anybody else in the organization. So if you're a team that isn't willing to be healthy, isn't willing to grow in trust, to grow in being open and honest and transparent and vulnerable with your leaders, if you're not a leader or a leadership team that can do that with your people, eos is going to frustrate you, because it's going to really bring you the opportunity to be transparent and open and honest and healthy as an organization.

Erica Rawls:

It opens up the curtain it absolutely does.

Steven King:

So EOS is just a spotlight. It's going to show you all the issues that you have in the business. Again, issues are opportunities and also problems, everything in between. It's really just something that we as a leadership can get aligned on and got to execute out of that alignment. So if you don't want to grow, if you don't want to be healthy, if you don't want to trust, eos is going to really not be a great fit for you. If you don't want to help, that's even maybe.

Steven King:

Um, eos can work well for some companies. They may self-implement and do it really well, but never want to work with an implementer, and that's okay. One of the reasons maybe they wouldn't want to work with an implementer is they just don't want help. They don't want to be coached, um, they don't want some, some accountability, some outside eyes coming and saying here's the proven process for how to do it at its best. They just want to kind of have it be their system too, and so they're dabbling between it being, like you know, eos and maybe HOS, like Harry's operating system you said before, right, it's like Harry, it's like. So if Harry is like well, I kind of want it to be my operating system. I want to use the tools, but every now and then I want to. I want to gamify the system to make it work the way that I want. I'm like, okay, be careful, you're probably going to not use the tool as best then, and that's okay if that's what you want, but it's just you're going to be undermining yourself at different times.

Steven King:

So maybe the highlights there, the big points, are if you're really not willing to grow in your open and honesty, your transparency and your vulnerability, be a healthy organization. If you have a leader, especially the owner, or a leader on the leadership team that isn't willing to be coached, they're not willing to be helped by their teammates, let alone an implementer like myself, and they just want to always hold things close to their chest, they want to be dictatorial in their leadership style. The OS is going to make them uncomfortable and it might not be a good fit for them. So, and and and, just truth be told, eos is not, doesn't have to be, the right fit for anyone in the world, right, there's other operating systems out there.

Steven King:

Ultimately, we want you know, as I want, as an implementer, uh, businesses to, when they need a system, when it's right for them, choose a system that works for them. Right, choose a system that works for them. I'm the most biased person in this interview right On the podcast right now. Eos is a fit for a lot of companies and EOS works really, really well, but it doesn't have to work well for everybody. It doesn't have to be the choice for everybody.

Erica Rawls:

Is it a time that it's too late to implement, like it's just like you know what you need to shut the doors. There's no hope.

Steven King:

Oh, that's a great question. I wouldn't say there's ever a time that's too late to implement. Now the example you said is it time to shut the doors? There's no hope? Well, I don't know, maybe at that point it might be too late for anything to help at that point.

Steven King:

I'm probably of the mind that it's never too late If you're growth-minded and you're willing to humble yourself in a good way, if you're willing to be growth-minded and learn, you're willing to evolve and adapt and grow. That's a mindset, it's an abundance mindset that anybody, if they're willing to apply it well in their business, they can get unstuck. Oftentimes, when someone wants to close their doors or say, hey, shut it down everybody, we can't go any further. Well, they're stuck, they're stuck. And so what we want to do in EOS, what I would love to do, is well, why are you stuck? And if you're abundance minded and you're willing to grow, you can get unstuck. It won't necessarily be easy and it won't necessarily be painless, but you can get unstuck. So in that regard, I'd say it's never too late for someone to start with EOS. Especially, it's probably there's a lot of entrepreneurs and owners that they think it's too late. It's absolutely not.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Steven King:

I've worked with plenty of teams that they go. They're just like we were at our breaking point. We've tried everything else, nothing's working. Let's give EOS a try and then a year later, two years later, they say this was exactly what we needed. We thought we were done, but now we're thriving in a way that like never before. So they thought they were unable to be helped or healed, but they weren't. They were just stuck. They need to get unstuck.

Erica Rawls:

EOS gives the clarity that we didn't know we needed as entrepreneurs. That's how I see it yeah. Because, like you said, there are. There are core values that already exist in the company, but they're just not written down on paper to see it Like you know. It just allows you to flush it out. Right, it's like the. That's the best thing ever, and even being able to focus on what, why you truly exist. Who is your target market?

Steven King:

Right yeah.

Erica Rawls:

Right. So yeah, for that. That's what someone's looking for all day long. I'm saying that you should at least give it a try, and you said for 10 to about 20 people 10 to 250.

Steven King:

250 people, 250.

Erica Rawls:

10 to 250 people.

Steven King:

That's the sweet spot, yep. If you're an organization with 10 to 250 employees again the most biased person here you should learn about EOS.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Steven King:

See if it's right for you.

Erica Rawls:

I'm saying if you're one person.

Steven King:

Sure Well, there's better tools in the toolbox. Absolutely there's better tools in the toolbox. Start it right off, 100% yeah.

Erica Rawls:

Start it right off the gate, because that's going to help, the way I see it, that's going to help when you hire, because you can hire and fire to those core values. Then, right, making sure you put people in the right seat, right and making sure that they are a good fit, make sure they do understand the vision and they're able to add value to you know your 10 year goal. And then, oh, by the way, if they want to add something or they want to say, hey, guess what? I have a suggestion. It makes sense because they understand what the core values are, right, so right.

Steven King:

Businesses that are one, two, three people. They're still executing a vision. So, again, like I, I'm not here to say that EOS is EOS is not designed for them, but it can work for them. Similar, on the other side, eos is not designed for billion dollar publicly traded companies, but there are billion dollar publicly traded companies running on EOS in the world. They're doing a great job with it. So, again, it's exception, not the rule. There there's better tool. There are really good tools in the toolbox and likely some that are better than entrepreneurs are using when they're one, two, three people, even to the extent of thinking, well, if I'm one or two people, that I want, but I do want to get to 10 people someday.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Steven King:

Well, how are you going to do that? How are you going to evolve your business over time to get there? Eos can bring a roadmap. It can bring the tools that are going will help you stay on track to execute that, whether it takes a year, two years or three years. So start using the tools, of course, and if you are a 10 plus employee company, learn about EOS.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, and then about the titles are there no longer titles with EOS?

Steven King:

Like in the accountability chart.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, the accountability chart. Is that even a thing now?

Steven King:

Well. So I don't focus on titles with my teams, with the clients I work with teams I work with. Now there are titles, right? So director of this, manager of that, you know, and titles are not inherently a bad thing, but there's nothing inherently wrong with them. And so there's plenty of teams I work with. Their business card says vice president of such and such.

Steven King:

But in the accountability chart, when we're really communicating with our team and knowing internally how we work together at our best, titles oftentimes are confusing or they're misleading or distracting, and so whether someone's the vice president of this or that, I'd say that's actually not the most important thing. What area of the business are you bringing accountability for? Because every business is executing sales and marketing and every business is executing operations and every business has to be strong financially. Every business in the world has to do those things. How do those things show up for us in the organization?

Steven King:

And as we evolve and grow into departments and subsets of teams, titles can be distracting. So let's avoid titles internally. Make sure we're really focused on the function of the seat that I'm in and then the accountability, the major things that I'm owning in that seat. So when you look at the accountability chart you go, I can see who's owning what new organization, and now we understand more of why we work together at our best Again not because we're not trying already to do this, but you used the word clarity before. Yeah, eos is one of those things that just like it's all the fog out of the room and just finds all the clarity for how we're at our best in execution, which is why execution and traction is what we're so focused on.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, this is really good, really good. Okay, we can go on. We even said that before we even shot this episode. We could go on forever talking about EOS, and we're not. However, I thought it was important to give everyone that's out there at least a thousand foot view of what EOS can do for your business, and if you're interested in getting an understanding on how this actually can help your business grow, we have two options for you. So I believe Steve said he was going to give us a link to the first chapter of traction.

Steven King:

Yes, that's right yeah.

Erica Rawls:

And then also he is available as um. You could hire him to be an implementer If you're interested in learning how you can actually implement this in your own business. And, steve, how can they contact you and give them a little of what they can expect by hiring you?

Steven King:

Yeah, absolutely Well, and I say before you would ever decide to hire me, know this one of our core values in EOS, one of my core values unsurprisingly, or maybe you know, let me just tell you it should be unsurprising, but maybe it is In EOS. We run on EOS, right. So I use EOS in my work as an EOS implementer. So I have core values, just like every team I work with has core values, and one of mine is help first, and so, truly, if working with an implementer is right for you, please work with an implementer, Whether that's me or someone else, who's a certified and trained implementer. There's 840 implementers around the world right now Great group of implementers and so find the person that's right for you. But any one of us myself for sure we're helped first, and so if you're listening to this or you've heard about EOS, you just want to learn more about it, reach out anytime. There's no presumption on my part that you have to hire me for me to help you, so know that right. So if you call or email and say, Steve, we're using EOS, we want to learn more about it, what can we do? I love having that conversation. Please know I'm never going into the conversation with the presumption that you're going to hire me, and so anyone who does reach out to me says you want to learn about it. Well, if you have a team or whether it's you as the solopreneur, but really if you have a team of people, I would love to do what I call a 90-minute meeting with you as a team, a leadership team, to help you. We did that workshop that was three hours long. Well, I'm going to just kind of condense all that information and the right amount of information, the right pieces of it, into 90 minutes, Help a leadership team really get aligned on what EOS is, how it works, and help them decide if it's the right fit for you. So, if it's the right fit for you, you're going to choose.

Steven King:

Well, do we want to start using on our own and use some of the tools, or are we ready and wanting to work with an implementer? And then that's what I do with teams. I work as the coach, the facilitator and the teacher of EOS with those teams. So, for sure, reach out at any time that the best race to reach out to me. Uh, my cell phone number is 717-220-5241. Uh, and my email address is steveking. So S-T-E-V-E dot K-I-N-G at EOS worldwidecom, so reach out to me at any time. We'd be happy to learn more about your organization and your journey. Uh, help you learn more about EOS and help from there.

Erica Rawls:

Thank you so much. This was so great. So, to wrap this all up, if you are a new business owner or if you have been in the entrepreneurial world for forever and you're struggling on how to get your business to the next level, how to streamline your processes, how to get clarity around what truly is your niche, your core values and just how to run your business like a business, this episode is probably one that you want to save and re-share and re-review and all those things and plus reach out to Steve. I think you'll be set up for 2025. And I want to thank you for watching and until next time we'll see ya.

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