I’m sure you’ve seen cartoons like this one. It does a great job of humorously exposing the universal problem many business owners and leaders find themselves in – feeling so overwhelmed with the daily/weekly/monthly challenges of running their business that they are blind and deaf to solutions that can eliminate (or at least significantly reduce) those challenges. I call this “but I’m too busy to solve my biggest problems”. Whether you are putting out fires with customers or clients, dealing with people issues, working on growth or profitability, juggling projects or simply going about your day-to-day job, do you feel like there never seems to be a good time to take on anything else? People often use “but I’m too busy” as an excuse not to have to deal with the real challenges or issues at hand. They often hide behind, buy into, and believe they are truly too busy. If you feel this way or have ever felt this way, that just makes you normal. Lots of business owners and leaders feel that way, or have felt that way at some point. I know there were times when I felt that way when I owned and was running my former IT business. Sometimes those daily/weekly/monthly challenges felt so overwhelming. But just look at the cartoon. Isn’t it painfully obvious the cavemen pulling and pushing the cart should take the time to get assistance from the caveman offering them wheels? I was blessed in 2015 when a trusted business friend handed me a copy of the book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman and introduced me to EOS® (the Entrepreneurial Operating System®). Think of EOS as the round wheels in the cartoon. EOS is a complete and proven business system, with simple and practical tools, that align and synchronize all the pieces of a business. It creates a clear overall vision, provides real traction in achieving that vision, and leads to more control, better results, and healthy teams. EOS addresses business issues at their root – rather than spot treatments and rather than treating symptoms of issues. Think how much easier life would be for the cavemen moving their cart if they had the benefit of round wheels! For me and my leadership team, yes implementing EOS was work and required our time. But it ultimately SAVED us time and made things better. What opportunities do you have to make things better for you and your business – but you’ve said you’re too busy? Are you really going to have more time next month? Next Quarter? Next year? Or will you still be just as busy if you don't make a fundamental change? I encourage you to pause, take a step back, look around, and see what opportunities are right in front of you that could make things better. Are you feeling too busy with your business? Are you frustrated with the status quo and wish there was a better way? I am blessed to be able to help business owners and leaders implement a set of wheels that have successfully helped thousands of others run better businesses and live better lives. If you’re open to learning more, reach out to me – if you’re not too busy 😊.

I was recently talking with one of the leaders of an organization I met last summer. He shared with me that he and some other members of the management team felt an important change needed to be made, but the top leader of the organization wasn’t ready to make the necessary change. This is certainly not an unusual situation. There is a tendency in all organizations, and even in our personal life, to resist change. That’s true even when we realize that what we’re doing is no longer as effective as it once was, or is completely ineffective and fails to provide any value. That discussion with the business leader reminded me of “The Dead Horse Theory” my friend and mentor shared with me a little over a year ago. It goes something like this: The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians — passed on from generation to generation — says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. Just get off. Sounds pretty simple, but it doesn’t take very long looking around and talking with people to realize that it is far from simple. Change is always hard, and just because everyone knows it needs to happen doesn’t mean it will. The reality is that today’s organizations (businesses, non-profits, churches, educational institutions) and even us as individual people, have found a whole range of creative and far more advanced strategies to use when dealing with a dead horse, such as: Buying a stronger whip. Changing riders. Threatening the horse with termination. Appointing a committee to study the horse. Proclaiming, “This is the way we’ve always ridden this horse.” Arranging to visit other countries to see how others ride dead horses. Declaring, “God told us to ride this horse.” Develop a training session to improve our riding ability. Reminding ourselves that other organizations ride this same kind of horse. Determining that riders who don’t stay on dead horses are lazy, lack drive, and have no ambition – then replacing them. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included. Reclassifying the dead horse as “living-impaired.” Hiring an outside consultant to advise on how to better ride the horse. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase the speed. Confessing boldy, “This horse is not dead, but alive!” Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance. Riding the dead horse “outside the box.” Get the horse a new or refreshed website. Killing all the other horses so the dead one doesn’t stand out. Taking a positive outlook – pronouncing that the dead horse doesn’t have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the organization’s budget than do some other horses. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position of hiring another horse. Name the dead horse, “paradigm shift” and keep riding it. Riding the dead horse “smarter, not harder.” Remembering all the good times you had while riding that horse. We all have some dead horses we are riding. We need to first admit the horse is dead. We often live in denial. You can try to beat it, you can flog it, this will not change the fact – the horse is dead. So what dead horses (i.e. structure, people, processes, policies, products, services, customers) are you clinging on to in your organization? One of the things I love about working with my clients to implement the EOS® (the Entrepreneurial Operating System®) in their organizations is the help it brings to avoiding riding a dead horse. The EOS Toolbox™, the Meeting Pulse™ (annual, quarterly, weekly) and meeting agendas, and the open and honest dialog between the leadership team members allows them to have those difficult, but very necessary, conversations – rooted in trust and HEALTHY conflict, without the fear of grudges, politics or guilt. The simple and practical tools used by companies running on EOS allows the team to know when they’ve got a wrong person in the organization, when someone is sitting in the wrong seat, when something in the organization is off-track and needs to be put back on-track, and when its time to make a change – simply put, when they need to dismount a dead horse. If something is off-track in your organization and it feels like you’re “riding a dead horse”, ask me how implementing EOS can help you make the change(s) needed to solve the issue, as well as give you the tools to make changes that will be needed in the future as your organization grows.

Do you remember the 1993 movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, where he finds himself inexplicably living the same day over and over again? Do you ever feel like Bill Murry? Do you sometimes find yourself and your business in the same place, year after year?

When I tell people I am a Professional EOS Implementer® in Pittsburgh, sometimes they ask me "Lloyd, I have read the Traction book, can't my team and I just implement EOS ourselves?" I tell them, Yes you can, but companies implementing EOS with the help of a Professional EOS Implementer get the best results. Here are 10 reasons why:

Every person on your team must have the right information and tools to implement EOS® (the Entrepreneurial Operating System®) purely throughout your organization. With the books in the Traction Library, your entire company – from leadership to management to employees – will understand their role and be better equipped to help your company succeed. As a Professional EOS Implementer®, I am sometimes asked by entrepreneurs and business leaders which of the five EOS books in the Traction Library are the right books for them and their team to read. Here is what I tell them: Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman – For Everyone Inside the book Traction® , you’ll learn the secrets of strengthening the Six Key Components™ of your business. You’ll discover simple yet powerful ways to run your company that will give you and your leadership team more focus, more growth, and more enjoyment. Based on years of real-world implementation in thousands of companies, the Entrepreneurial Operating System is a practical method for achieving the business success you have always envisioned. You may sometimes hear this book referred to as the "Traction book", "Traction business book", "Traction EOS book", "Traction EOS business book" or "Traction Gino Wickman book". This book is one of the biggest blessings I received in my life. A trusted business friend gave it to me in 2015 and introduced me to EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) . My leadership team and I at my former IT business (Wolf Consulting LLC) were excited by what we read, so we hired an EOS Implementer® and we began our EOS journey. We successfully used the EOS concepts and tools for the last 3+ years I running that business, and they still use EOS today. Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination by Gino Wickman & Mark C. Winters – For the Visionary and Integrator The book Rocket Fuel details the integral roles of the Visionary and Integrator and explains how an effective relationship between the two can thrive. You’ll also get advice to help Visionary-minded and Integrator-minded individuals find one another. When these two people come together to share their natural talents and innate skill sets, they have the power to reach new heights for virtually any company or organization. Get a Grip: An Entrepreneurial Fable by Gino Wickman & Mike Paton – For the Leadership Team Filled with familiar situations, real-world characters and detailed, fully-applied tools, The book Get A Grip vividly illustrates the right way to implement EOS in an enjoyable fable format, making it easy for you to translate this story into results for your own business. Get a Grip tells the story of how Swan Services resolves its issues by implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). With the help of EOS, the team learns how to develop and commit to a clear vision, establish focus, build discipline, and create a healthier and more cohesive team. I really love this book and personally find it the most enjoyable book in the library. The fable format makes it super easy to read (or listen to). How to Be a Great Boss by Gino Wickman and René Boer – For Leaders, Managers and Supervisors Studies have repeatedly shown that the majority of employees are disengaged at work—but it doesn’t have to be this way. Often, the difference between a group of indifferent employees and a fully engaged team comes down to one simple thing—a great boss. In the book How to Be a Great Boss, Gino Wickman and Rene’ Boer present a straightforward, practical approach to help bosses at all levels of an organization get the most from their people. They share time-tested tools that have worked for more than 30,000 bosses in every industry. You can learn to be a great boss—and dramatically improve both your organization’s performance and your team’s excitement about their work. What the Heck is EOS? by Gino Wickman & Tom Bouwer – For all Employees, Managers and Supervisors Designed to engage employees in the EOS process and tools, the book What the Heck is EOS? uses simple, straightforward language and provides questions about each tool that managers and employees can use in creating more ownership and buy-in at the staff level. After reading this book, employees will not only have a better understanding of EOS, but they will be more engaged, taking an active role in helping achieve your company’s vision. As a Professional EOS Implementer, I work with businesses in the Greater Pittsburgh Area and Western Pennsylvania – as a teacher, facilitator and coach – to help them implement EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) in their companies so they can achieve more. I recommend to my clients that they provide the appropriate books from the above list to their employees – so they will understand their role and be better equipped to help their company succeed. As a personal gift, I am happy to provide you with a complimentary copy of the book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman. To take advantage of this offer, simply contact me. To order the other books, or to get a FREE chapter of any of the above books, please visit www.eosworldwide.com/traction-library . Would you like to learn more about EOS? Help First is one of my Core Values . I’ll give you 90 minutes of my time to tell you more about EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) and show you and your leadership team how to experience "Vision, Traction and Healthy" in your business. This 90 Minute Meeting provides a simple but informative explanation of EOS to help you learn more and decide whether it’s right for you. There’s no better way to tell if EOS is a fit for your business. It's not a sales pitch - it’s just the easiest way for you and your team to connect with me for a overview of the system, the tools and the process. There’s no charge for this meeting, and there is no expectation or obligation to ever work together, I promise. It’s simply meant to answer all your questions and help you and your leadership team decide if you'd like to transform your business with EOS, and if I am the right Professional EOS Implementer for you. Contact me today for an initial discussion or to schedule your no-obligation 90 Minute Meeting.

Watching so many people try to navigate through the COVID-19 uncertainty has been tough, yet also inspiring. I have watched news stories about the brave healthcare workers caring for the sick on the front lines of this battle. I have watched my friends running IT Managed Services Providers (MSPs) and their entire staffs work around the clock to transition their clients to work from home – to keep those businesses up-and-running. And I have watched business owners and leaders – in my local community and all over our country – doing whatever it takes to keep their businesses afloat and their staff employed. We are all grappling with the rapidly changing landscape of our economic, health and social systems. There are no clear answers, but one thing is for sure, we need to respond and we need to do it quickly. Help First is one of my Core Values, and I have been amazed s eeing how some of my peers have stepped up to help those in need (see Credit below). So I have been inspired to RISE UP in service t oo – via PROJECT LIGHTHOUSE. I don't have a magic wand and I am not a pandemic crisis response expert. The only thing I have to offer is my time, my experience, and a simple set of practical tools that are proven to help business owners and leaders to stay calm, think clearly and act responsibly during rapid change and uncertainty. Traditionally EOS® ( the Entrepreneurial Operating System® ) is used to help business owners and leaders get more of what they WANT from their business – usually discipline, accountability, growth, efficiency, profitability, etc. In this current COVID-19 climate, the EOS tools are helping them get what they NEED from the business, and in doing so, they are able to tackle critical issues, stay on the same page, manage communication and take action quickly. OBJECTIVES OF PROJECT LIGHTHOUSE : To provide light in these turbulent times through advice, learning, proven tools and timely support to help business owners and leaders get what they NEED from their business during this extraordinary time. FREE SERVICES: I am putting myself at the front-line of entrepreneurship and offering FREE help, learning and support for business owners and leaders. FREE Consultation Session - a virtual meeting to discuss whatever is on your mind. Through my EOS implementation work with EOS Worldwide, my facilitation work with IT Nation Evolve Peer Groups, my consulting work with Evergreen Services Group (the private equity firm who invested in my former MSP business - Wolf Consulting), and my local investing activities with BlueTree Allied Angels, I’ve had the opportunity to have a number of meetings and confidential conversations with business owners and leaders who are dealing with a wide variety of challenges due to COVID-19. Sometimes I helped them solve a problem, other times they just needed someone to listen or an independent opinion. I am happy to discuss whatever is on your mind, and help or guide you in any way I can. FREE Introductory EOS Workshops for business owners and their key leadership team members - 2-hour virtual EOS overview sessions with Q&A. Learn about the EOS Tools, Proven Process and how to use these tools during this critical period. Check out this link to get the tools: www.eosworldwide.com/eos-tools . FREE Private Consultations for EOS Self-Implementing businesses - 2-hour virtual consultations for business owners and their key leadership team members to help deepen mastery of the EOS tools and provide guidance on how to apply them to this new and fast changing world. FREE Issue Solving session for existing Professional EOS implementing clients – up to 4 hours of FREE virtual Issue Solving sessions for my existing Professional EOS implementing clients, to tackle critical current issues and form immediate action plans to pivot during this period of rapid change and uncertainty. To protect the health and safety of everyone, t hese meetings will be virtual – delivered via Zoom. This offer remains in place until May 31, 2020. It is my honor and privilege to serve business owners and leaders. Frankly, it is the least I can do right now. To arrange for your FREE support services, send me an email message, send me a LinkedIn PM, or complete my website contact form . Please indicate your name, company name, contact phone number and requested service from above 1, 2, 3 or 4. Please indicate "Project Lighthouse" in the subject. Credit: This PROJECT LIGHTHOUSE idea was inspired by my friend and Certified EOS Implementer® Renee Russo . Thank you for the idea Renee!

I am sometimes asked by entrepreneurs and business leaders to explain to them what the process is like to implement EOS® (the Entrepreneurial Operating System®) in their business. I tell hem there are two phases in the EOS Process ®. The first phase of the EOS Process is about learning the EOS Foundational Tools™. The following is an overview of this phase: 1. 90 Minute Meeting. This introduces the leadership team of a company to EOS, getting everyone on the same page so they can decide if they want to use the system and tools to strengthen their company. Contact me today to schedule the no-obligation 90 Minute Meeting with you and your leadership team. Together we can assess whether EOS is right for your business. 2. The Focus Day™. A full session day (typically 6-8 hours) together to give the leadership team tools to clarify who’s responsible for what, set priorities, improve communication, resolve issues and track critical numbers. The leadership team then uses their new tools in their business for the next 30 days to experience real improvement. 3. Vision Building™ Day 1. About 30 days later, we spend another day with the leadership team that starts by reviewing and sharpening the Focus Day tools. They then begin to use the Vision/Traction Organizer™ (V/TO™) tool to clarify their vision, starting with who they are, why they exist, what they do and where they are going. They will also get a great tool for reviewing their people. 4. Vision Building™ Day 2. About 30 days later, we spend another day with the leadership team to master the Focus Day tools and continue using the V/TO tool to complete their vision, clarifying their Marketing Strategy, their 3-Year Picture™, 1-Year Plan and priorities for the next 90 days. From there we transition into the second phase of the EOS Process , which is all about execution. The following is an overview of this phase: 5. Quarterly 1-day Meeting. A day with the leadership team every 90 days to evaluate their performance, refocus, learn more of the tools in the EOS Toolbox™, set priorities for the next 90 days and resolve any issues that might impede their progress. 6. Annual 2-day Meeting. Two Days with the leadership team each year to work on team health and update their vision and plan for the next year and next quarter. In my experience, it is best to hold these session days offsite. Why? It is so you and your leadership team can truly focus working ON your business instead of becoming distracted with activities in the office related to working IN your business. The companies who achieve the best meeting results hold their session days offsite. As a Professional EOS Implementer®, I work with businesses in the Greater Pittsburgh Area and Western Pennsylvania – as a teacher, facilitator and coach – to help them implement EOS in their companies. This means I teach leadership teams all of the tools in the EOS Toolbox™. I "facilitate" their foundational, quarterly and annual meetings shown above – providing clarity, alignment and resolution. And I act as a coach – holding everyone accountable and helping the leadership team become its best. I sometimes get asked how long I work with my clients? At some point, my clients "graduate". They master the process and implement all the tools. I tell people that I typically work with my clients for about 2 years – some shorter, some longer, some continue indefinably (only if they desire). To be clear, my job is NOT to dig myself deeper into my clients' organizations as their EOS Implementer. My job is to tech them the tools, help them implement the tools, and then get out of their way and let THEM run their businesses. Would you like to learn more about the EOS Process? Help First is one of my Core Values . I’ll give you 90 minutes of my time to tell you more about EOS and show you and your leadership team how to experience "Vision, Traction and Healthy" in your business. This 90 Minute Meeting provides a simple but informative explanation of EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) to help you learn more and decide whether it’s right for you. There’s no better way to tell if EOS is a fit for your business. It's not a sales pitch - it’s just the easiest way for you and your team to connect with me for a overview of the system, the tools and the process. There’s no charge for this meeting, and there is no expectation or obligation to ever work together, I promise. It’s simply meant to answer all your questions and help you and your leadership team decide if you'd like to transform your business with EOS, and if I am the right Professional EOS Implementer for you. Contact me today for an initial discussion or to schedule your no-obligation 90 Minute Meeting.

EOS® (the Entrepreneurial Operating System®) doesn’t treat symptoms – it helps you cure the "whole body" by strengthening the Six Key Components ™ of your business – Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction. The EOS Model provides a visual illustration of the Six Key Components of your business – of any business – that must be managed and strengthened to be a great business. This model applies to big and small businesses alike, in any industry. When I talk with entrepreneurs and business leaders about the EOS Model, they often ask me to explain a little more. Here is what I tell them: The 1st Key Component is the Vision Component™. Strengthening this component means getting everyone in the organization 100% on the same page with who you are, what you do, where you are going, and how you will get there. The 2nd Key Component is the People Component™. Simply put, we can’t achieve great Vision without great people. This means surrounding yourself with great people, top to bottom. Great people are the Right People (who consistently exhibit your Core Values) who sit in the Right Seats (who have the God given talent, skills, experience, ability and desire to be great at their job). Right People, Right Seats, you've got to have both. The 3rd Key Component is the Data Component™. This means cutting through all the feelings, egos and subjective emotions that opften drive decision making in an entreprenurial company and running your business on facts, figures and a handful of objective numbers that give you an absolute pulse on where things are with the organization. The 4th Key Component is the Issues Component™ . Strengthening this component means becoming great at solving problems throughout the organization – setting them up, knocking them down and making them go away forever. The 5th Key Component is the Process Component™. This is the secret ingredient in your organization. This means identifying, simplifying and documenting the core processes that define your way to run your business – getting everyone on the same page with what the essential procedural steps in your core processes and then getting everyone to follow them so you create consistency and scalability in your organization. It makes it easier to mange, more profitable and more fun. The 6th and final Key Component is the Traction Component™. This means bringing discipline and accountability into the organization – becoming great at execution – taking the Vision down to the ground and executing on that Vision, day in and day out. As a Professional EOS Implementer®, I work with businesses in the Greater Pittsburgh Area and Western Pennsylvania – as a teacher, facilitator and coach – to help them implement EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) and strengthen the Six Key Components of their business. On our journey together, we are working to strengthen each component – get it to 100% strong, knowing that goal is virtually impossible – because that is utopia. We embark on a journey with the goal of getting you to 80% strong or better. Truth be told, most organizations are operating somewhere around 20% strong in the Six Key Components – succeeding in spite of themselves. Would you like to learn more about the EOS Model or the Six Key Components ? Help First is one of my Core Values. I’ll give you 90 minutes of my time to tell you more about EOS and show you and your leadership team how to experience "Vision, Traction and Healthy" by strengthening the Six Key Components in your business . This 90 Minute Meeting provides a simple but informative explanation of EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) to help you learn more and decide whether it’s right for you. There’s no better way to tell if EOS is a fit for your business. It's not a sales pitch - it’s just the easiest way for you and your team to connect with me for a overview of the system, the tools and the process. There’s no charge for this meeting, and there is no expectation or obligation to ever work together, I promise. It’s simply meant to answer all your questions and help you and your leadership team decide if you'd like to transform your business with EOS, and if I am the right Professional EOS Implementer for you. Contact me today for an initial discussion or to schedule your free 90-minute meeting.