Page 21 - December 2019 Bar Journal

EXTRA FEATURE

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HAVEN’T

READ THIS BOOK YET”

BY ALEX GERTSBURG

Whispers After devouring the book and boring the way there, the 20% that was left could
For at least the past three years, I’ve my partners and employees to tears about be chopped down into small remaining
heard whispers from business clients and it, I took action. First, I researched best bites over time, but that if we never got
entrepreneurs I knew and respected about practices for implementing EOS. There to 100%, that would be fine. Progress, not
this magic book called Traction by Gino are two basic options: hire a professional perfection, was our goal, and we could
Wickman. “Read it,” they said. “You haven’t consultant called an “Implementor,” or go always hire an Implementor down the road
read it yet?” “I can’t believe you haven’t read it alone through “self-implementation.” The if we wanted to.
it.” “You need to read it.” Ordinarily this type former can cost a firm $20,000–$30,000 in
of social pressure makes me run the other the first year. The latter would be free, but Blast Off: Our EOS Journey
way, and so I did, for years. I wish I hadn’t. fraught with potential errors. Second, I Implementation for us meant locking
I’ve been growing my firm for seven hunted down law firms that implemented ourselves in a room for about 40 hours
years. There are 13 of us there now. The EOS. I found four of them online and spoke over a three-month period. Our sessions
journey has been, like in most businesses, with two of their managing partners. Both lasted anywhere from two hours to 10
both exhilarating and perilous. My true had attempted to self-implement before hours, with each session roughly broken
north has been to try to build the firm I retaining a consultant, citing a lack of time down into each of the six buckets. Some
once wanted to work for, and the firm I and energy and focus from the leadership buckets took three or four sessions; others
wanted to hire. Beyond that, though, I knew team to sustain the attention and diligence took one. We chipped away at them.
very little about growing and operating a that the process required over any period Professional Implementors use an initial
business. I knew how to litigate and how of time. Third, I interviewed a number of “setup” process that spans three days. They
to advise businesses on legal issues but not Implementors and, fourth, other business recommend going offsite for a continuous,
much more than that. I was good at goal- owners, asking all of them the same basic intensive planning session. We didn’t do it
setting but goal achievement was basically questions: what works and what doesn’t that way.
a crapshoot, a lot of trial and error, mostly work when you implement EOS? Prior to each session, I circulated to the
error. Then came Traction. Everyone I contacted was generous with leadership team my notes from the relevant
his time and advice. The gist of it was: if you section of the book, the applicable forms and
What the Heck is EOS? can afford it, hire an Implementor. If you go templates I found online, and in some cases some
I read Traction in a day and then outlined it alone, manage your expectations. You’ll tips, tricks and hacks I found in articles written
it like I was studying for the bar exam. It’s need total commitment from everyone on by Implementors and self-implementors. We
great stuff. Wickman outlines a framework the leadership team. Follow every letter of then followed the book as closely as possible.
with which business owners and managers the book. No bells and whistles. Use the Here’s a very rough breakdown:
should think about their business, placing tools online at EOS Worldwide. Turn off The Vision Component: we brainstormed,
everything in the business into six buckets: all electronic devices during sessions. You argued about and then decided on our
vision, people, data, processes, issues and have to have 100% focus. And no being late. Core Purpose, our Core Values, our Three
traction. That framework is called EOS, But the best advice we received was this: get Uniques, our Ideal Client, our Marketing
or Entrepreneurial Operating System. comfortable being uncomfortable. Strategy, our Proven Process, our Pledge
The premise is that every organization When planning our course with to our clients, and our Niche. We set our
must have an operating system in order my partners, we further managed our five-year financial goals and then reverse-
to thrive. Failure to create and implement expectations by setting a goal of getting engineered them into our three-year
an operating system means the members 80% of the way there. We agreed that an financial and non-financial goals, our one-
of the organization are unlikely to flow in Implementor would get us farther, but year goals and our quarterly goals, which
the same direction, resulting in a lack of we also agreed that with diligence, we are called Rocks. We then identified the
cohesion and a lack of, well, traction toward could get far enough to be happy with our Issues that needed to be resolved in order
the organization’s goals. progress. We agreed that if we got 80% of for us to achieve them.

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