EOS (Entrepreneur Operating System) - An interview with Coach Bob - Ep.37

Welcome everybody to this edition of CPG Insiders. I'm your host, Dr. Mark Young and my co host Justin Gerard, who's not a doctor. Oh, you're just jealous, aren't you?

Very, very. No, no very.

You just have one of those MBA things.

Yeah.

Gosh, I don't have any cool letters after my name like you.

You could put those letters after if you'd like to.

It's tacky.

Sounds exhausting.

It is. All right folks, so today we're going to talk about, we're going to get into some, some management issues and we have a guest today. And our guest today is Coach Bob. Bob Shenefeld. And Bob is a. Bob, what do they call you? Are you a certified EOS coach?

I am a certified EOS implementer.

Certified implementer. So folks, we're talking about EOs and EOs stands for the entrepreneurial Operating system. Now what I want you to think of is don't think of a software system system. So we're not talking about QuickBooks or something like that. What we're talking about is a operating system when it comes to managing your company and the philosophies and the methodologies of running your business. And here's the reason we bring this up and I'll let Bob take it from here. But we at Jekyll and Hyde, we are an EOS company and there are thousands of EOS companies of these companies they adhere to a certain style of management, a certain way to manage. The reason we bring this up is because we know we have a lot of entrepreneurs and as entrepreneurs we're really special people. And I like to refer to as, we're people who can't hold jobs.

Right. We're unemployable.

Yes, we're unemployable people. But we know that a lot of our clients and entrepreneurs have great ideas and great products and great ability to sell that product. But they do struggle with how to manage the internal part of the company. So we wanted to expose them to EOS as one of the ways that they can do that. So Bob, I'm going to hand this over to you and you can start by letting everybody know what is eos.

Sure, I appreciate that. So EOS is a system, a process philosophy to help small to mid sized companies to manage the human capital and human energy. And so it's a simple, like when you mentioned operating system, I don't want to figure out how to run a small business as an entrepreneur. I just want to run a great small business. And so Gina Wickman, the original founder of it 20 years ago, saw his dad's company and people loved the services, got a ton of value, they were supposedly making money and yet they were stressed out and dropping the ball on certain things. And so Gino came into the company and said business isn't that hard. And he's a student of business, does a lot of reading, goes through a lot of coaching programs. And he basically said, you know, there's six key components of business to teach his dad. And he did it and helped the entrepreneur and his dad, who is what we also call a visionary entrepreneur, so we're even a little bit more out there and helped his dad to put a process in, helped his dad to understand his role in the business. And it really is business 101. And then Gino looked around his entrepreneur group, which I was a part of, and he's like, you're a crazy visionary entrepreneur. And so are you. And so are you. And the light bulb went off and he said, you know, this is a common system that can be used for companies. 2 to 50 million in revenue, 10 to 250 employees, privately held, growth oriented. And it really is simple and that's the beauty of it. It's a couple year program to implement it. Some people self implement on their own. They can read the traction book that Gino wrote, which is awesome, or they can hire us as an implementer and we as implementers are facilitators, coaches and teachers. We facilitate the answers out of the room. We don't have answers, we're just teaching the process and then coaching people up to their potential.

So walk us through the program, how there are basic steps to the program. How does EOS function?

How does it work?

Well, we explain it in two ways. One is the model. And the model is what does a great small business look like? And it's broken down to six key components. And and so it's vision, it's people, it's data, it's issues, it's processes and it's traction. So we walk people through. A great company from a vision standpoint is that we have the same vision on core values, that we have a core focus. You know, like why are we around? What is our 10 year target look like? What's our true marketing strategy? What is our three year picture? One year goals quarterly and then issues that we have to look at. And so we talk about that. We get the whole company starting with the leadership team to all, we call it sba shared by all. So I may have a vision But I haven't communicated properly. And you have a different vision. And our HR director has another vision. So this way we are making it really simple. What's the vision of the company and teaching that throughout the organization. Then the second component is people. And we want the right people in the right seat. So right people are a core values fit. Then the right seats, we build out what we call an accountability cert. So who is responsible for what. And so we want them to be the right people to be able to satisfy the roles and responsibilities they've done it before, they get what the job is, they want it and they have the capacity. And then we get over to the data component and we teach again, basic business 101. We teach, you know, what are not even teach, but we facilitate what are the key metrics, numbers, creating scorecards that the whole company needs to look at by department where we see trends and see what's going on. And there may be issues from that and then issues. There's really only about 20 issues in any business. We call them different things and we have different labels for them. But there's this, the same issues over and over again for small companies. So we teach people, the whole company, and this is a life skill on what are, what are the issues, when to solve them and how to solve them. And it's brilliant how we're just open and honest and getting to solving that issue once and for all for the greater good of the company and then we just move on. And then we get to the process component which, you know, if we want to grow and I have too much of the information in my head, you know, we're going to hit a ceiling. And so I need to be able to teach that to people and what we call delegate and elevate. And we can't do that unless we document it. So we teach people, you know, what does it mean to document and document it so we can delegate and elevate. And it's amazing. People don't know what processes are and how to document it. So we're teaching them basics. And then last is traction. And we joke that vision without traction. Traction is hallucination. And as you mentioned, us unemployable visionary entrepreneurs, you know, we have all these crazy ideas, but if the team can't keep up and they don't know what's going on and we distract them, we can really take the company off the rails. So traction is the 90 day world and we start there with what is the, what are the rocks? You know, the Quarterly goals which we call rocks that we've got to knock out to get to the next level and then how to run a great meeting. And so we put real basic one on business 101. That's the model and then the process. If someone is interested a they can buy the traction book and self implement and that's awesome. That may take a little bit, will take a little bit longer or you look for a implementer like myself and then we come in and do a 90 minute meeting with really anyone who's interested and then that way they get to know a little bit about EOs, a little bit about us as a implementer, we get to know a little bit about them, we talk about where are they as a company and then we go through the model and the process and then they engage us or not and that's fine. And then it usually takes about two years to go through with an implementer to fully what we call graduate. Our goal is not to be consultants forever. Our goal is to get you to that. I mentioned the model that if in all the six key components we've got our vision nailed, our people, our data, our issues, our process and our and our traction, that's a great company. So we want to get our company, our clients to that level and then they graduate. And then some of them keep us on board because it's working. Some of them keep them keep us on board for their two day annual and some keep it going because it works. But the goal is for us to say and them to say, thank you Coach Bob, you know, you've done what we need. We now are running a great company. It's a lot less stressful and we're literally happier going to work.

So two years to an entrepreneur by the way, sounds like a lifetime. Entrepreneurs want to get things done right away. So in the EOS world we divide up responsibilities and I'd like you to go into that a little bit where we divide things up between the visionary and the integrator and how that looks.

So you're asking how does that look?

Yeah.

Explain for people why one person isn't the answer.

Got it. No, I appreciate that. Yeah. So a lot of times, you know, I may, I see an opportunity in the marketplace and there's a gap and there's something that I could sell to someone and that's how a lot of companies start is I'm in this industry but this is missing. So I'm going to start a company and again I can probably sell. Most entrepreneurs can sell and and we can motivate our team and we can provide value to get to a certain level. But what we teach also and help people understand is usually that person is what we, and we've already referred to it, a visionary. And the visionary is at the top of the accountability chart from a perspective of what is the vision of the company. Managing big relationships, solving big problems, helping with the energy and the culture of the company. But most of us, about 90 to 95% of US entrepreneurs, are visionaries that aren't good at integrating that plan. So that is a huge stress point and a bottleneck for a lot of companies. And so what we talk about is creating a seat called the integrator, which can be a president, it can be a coo, but we like to call things like it is and keep it simple. So they're integrating the vision of the business, and ultimately they're the ones running the business and managing sales and marketing, operations, finance, and any other of the leadership positions. But, you know, EOS calls that rocket fuel when we have a visionary and an integrator who are on the same page working to get to the next level. So that is a key differential or a key aha for a lot of visionaries and entrepreneurs that it's like, I don't have to have all the answers. And so that is a shift. You mentioned two years might take a while, it might seem like a long time, but that spatial learning, and we're letting the team implement it and then it sticks. But, yeah, to really figure out that role, that is a big thing for the entrepreneur to understand that and to let go of the things that we're not good at and don't like. And that's where the integrator comes in.

And if we look at any of even some of the great companies in, you know, in Silicon Valley, you, you look at these companies and you think, oh, Steve Jobs did this, Bill Gates did this, you know, Sergey Bren did this. But there's, there's a counterpart to every one of those people. So, you know, it wouldn't be Steve Jobs without Watts.

Right?

Yeah. And we call that our missing puzzle piece. And I've had many times in my career of owning businesses where I have not had an integrator. And it's literally hell, I'm doing things that I'm not good at and don't like, and it's taking too long. And so to get an integrator in who understands what I'm trying to do. And a lot of times I speak to my team, and I can get people excited and inspired, and then I walk away and they're like, what did he just say? And the integrator is like, okay, here's what he meant, and here's what we need to go do. And then they also keep us in check, because as a visionary, I literally want to reinvent the business a couple times a week. And that's not always the right answer. And so it's good to have those ideas, but then to be able to let the team knock out what they need to knock out this quarter and getting the processes in place and hitting.

Those goals, we also find that it's good to let people discover what their unique ability is. And as Dan Sullivan often says from strategic coach, if you spend your time trying to strengthen up your weaknesses, you just end up with a bunch of really strong weaknesses. And that the real key is to play into what your strengths are and stay away from your weaknesses and find other people where your weaknesses happen to be their strength and let those people go do the things they like. So, I mean, as an example, I don't want anything to do with doing the accounting. Now. I know how to do accounting, but I don't want to do accounting. But I have someone in accounting, I have people in accounting who really like that.

Mm.

Which makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Who would like that.

Right, Exactly. Why would anyone want to stare at a screen all day long looking at numbers? Because the only number I care about is the one on the top and the one on the bottom. That's where my focus is.

Yep.

And that's what you're hitting. You know, this a huge part of EOS is, I mentioned it, the accountability chart. And Gino Wickman, who is an awesome, you know, business thought leader, and, you know, he's intensely simple as a person. And he is on this planet to teach open, honest and accountability. And that's what EOS is all about. And so it's not me saying what I think the seats in the accountability chart need to be in the roles and responsibility with the leadership team. We talk about six to 12 months now. What does this structure need to look like? And it's open and honest. And, you know, as the visionary, obviously I have a say in it, but it's the rest of the team may say, that's not going to work. And then do we. Then we do all the seats first, then the roles and responsibility, then do we have the right people? And, you know, who in the right mind would talk about with the people in the room to say, Bob, I don't think you're meant for that seat, but we're talking open and honestly for the greater good of the company. And I don't always know what, as you said, Dan Sullivan's term, unique ability. I may not even know what my unique ability is, but my team is like, Bob, you're great at this and you're not good at these things. So it really is amazing to flush out, you know, again, in an open and honest and accountable environment. You know, where are we going and how are we going? What does it look like and how are we going to get there? Both from goals and from what the structure of the company looks like.

We get so many, and I've experienced so many great clients who will make amazing products and have amazing breakthroughs. But then sometimes, I'm not meaning to insult anybody, but sometimes the entrepreneur is our biggest impediment to helping them grow their business.

Yeah, right. We're surviving in spite of ourselves or not surviving, because for us, as an.

Example, we'll get an entrepreneur and they've invented a great item and our goal is to, okay, let's take that item and let's get that item in 50,000 stores and let's really get some market share with that item. But our great entrepreneur goes and invents 35 other versions of it. And for us it's like, okay, we need to back up here because you've got 35 SKUs out here, but we need to make the first SKUs successful or the first SKU becomes successful. So then they introduce eight more SKUs and they went from one successful SKU to now they have nine poorly performing SKUs because they just took the business that was doing well and divided it up between nine different products. And I think EOS is a great way of keeping a handle on that because you're working toward short term and long term goal. And sometimes you can decide, and here's where I'm thinking at, entrepreneurs have a tendency in our business to go out and invent new products. But under the US system, we're going to look and say, okay, our short term goal is one new product or our one year goal is one new product, our three year goal. So now we know, wait a minute, we need to stop, let's pull back, let's stop putting all of our time into a million new SKUs. And our short term goal is we need to increase distribution, let's move all of our focus to increase distribution because that's in the 90 day window.

Well, and it's just like you mentioned, Mark. I think another large piece that I think that Bob talked about here is when you look at those components, those are all key, but it's also that open and honest communication you're talking about. And you see this a lot in organizations that there are people that work for the entrepreneur, love them, are willing to be out there and war with them every single day of the week, but they're afraid to have an honest communication and say, hey, no, we really don't need eight more products. We don't need to having that. As Bob's talking about that system in place and that understanding and that mutual agreement that this is how we're going to run our business together as a team, really change the dynamic and the direction.

And the other thing I think makes a big difference is when you're, when you're using something like an eos, you're trying to build a. Not totally, not all the time, but you're trying to build a self managing company.

Right.

Because until you get to the point is what I always look at, if you can't leave your business for a week and your business still functioned and could still grow, then you don't have a business, you have a private practice.

Yeah. And EOS isn't strictly here for us to build our company and sell it. But I've sold two companies and literally spent hours with the company that bought me, bought me out after I left because the people were there, the systems were there and their vision didn't really align with what I wanted to do. And so that was. It is amazing because I could not only take a week off, I could take a month off or I could be out with clients or are out creating new businesses or whatever it might be. So it is amazing. So yeah, I love what you're saying. That especially for we visionary entrepreneurs, we get bored easily. We've been called add, adhd, Bipolar, Tourette's, you name it. And yet I've allowed myself to get rid of some of that visionary and that childlike playfulness. We need that. But then we also need the structure in the team to deliver. So it's that great art and science of the combination of those.

And you bring up a great point because in the CPG world, a lot of brands are building their companies with the intention of selling the company.

Yeah. Oh yeah.

And having an EOS structure in place definitely would make the company far easier to sell.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Because.

Yeah.

Cause you said we're unemployable and so it's like, hey, we're buying out Bob, and yet we want Bob to stay or not. And yet I don't have to. And that's the beauty. And then you don't have to sell it. But then as I get my company that level, now what do I do? And this is, again, this is an interesting phenomenon that we have to go through is are we willing to, we call it let go of the vine and trust our people and our processes and stop doing everything? I, as an entrepreneur, I'm not paid to turn the crank and work in the business is to work on the business. And so, yeah, I may or may not sell the company, but then I get to do what I love and great at. And then my team is thrilled to have me out of the way. I'm still available for them, but I tend to get in the way.

And keep in mind, in the world of consumer packaged goods, especially the smaller clients, your team isn't always made up of just the people on your payroll.

Right?

Your team is your ad agency, your brokers, your master broker, your suppliers. You have all these different people that are all really part of your team, and you can bring them into the system where they can more participate and you can get far more advantage out of what they can offer you.

Because, yeah, that's a great point. And that also as we build our core values, everyone has core values, but they may not know what they're called. And so get it to three to seven core values on how we hire, fire, review, reward, recognize. That's how we get the right people in and, or the wrong people out. And to your point, we also can look at vendors that I just love doing business with Jekyll and Hyde and, well, because they're a core value fit. Or I may not enjoy doing business with this. And it usually comes down, it's not a core value fit. And that just makes. That's. That's not fun.

So, Bob, if somebody wanted to learn more about eos, walk us through it, obviously they could get some of the books, tell us some of the books again.

So there's five books currently in the library. Subtraction is really the. Everything you need to know about EOs. And literally being on a retreat on the mountain with Gino years ago, when he first started this, he's like, okay, do I give everything away for $30 or whatever the book costs? And he decided, you know what? I want to help 10,000 companies, 100,000 companies to get everything they want out of their business. And so traction literally spells out everything you need to know. There's also a fable called Get a Grip. There's how to be a Great Boss for mid level Managers. There's what the heck is eos? And that's for employees. And then there's Rocket Fuel which explains the visionary and integrator and that relationship. And when we have a great team of a visionary and integrator, it literally is rocket fuel. So that is the library as it exists today. So not only, you know, can the leadership team read it, they can buy the books for their team. Because really we are teaching Business 101 to the whole company. And so the books are one way to do it. You can go online to TheEntrepreneur Operating System.com, double check me on that. Sorry. But iOS has a website. There's about 400 of US implementers throughout the world and there's now Gino, 14 years ago, 14 or 15 years ago, with 81 companies running on EOS with the help of an implementer like myself, had a 10 year target to say we're going to have 10,000 companies running on EOS with the help of implementer by the end of 2020 and sure enough, in November of 2019 by the end, yeah, so we hit it so a month early and he predicted that and threw that inspirational, big hairy, audacious goal out there and we went and hit it and sure enough, about 10 times that amount of people our companies are running on EOS through self implementing. And so it's just amazing how we're teaching our employees basic business skills. And so yeah, you go to that. If anyone is interested, I'm bob@coachbobdetroit.com I'm more than happy to talk people through it. If they want a local implementer, I can connect them. But really one of the beautiful things about EOS and what Gino created is it's a simple set of tools, it's got common vocabulary so when we say something, everyone in the company knows it. And now there's a community of literally 100,000 companies running on EOS. We have a conference of people running on EOS. There's different groups that are popping up, a lot of services that kind of, you know, help people, you know, around eos. So there's a lot of different ways it really, you know, when Gino first told us he was going to go to 10,000 companies, we were like, dude, what are you on? There's no way. And sure enough, because he was very pure on using the tools, he nailed it. So it's really because of eos. EOS has really gone to the next level, folks.

I'm going to tell you. If you feel that you're constantly fighting and constantly struggling to get people to do what you need them to do and get things under control and you're up at night worried about what are we doing with this and what are we doing with that. I would encourage you to take a look at the EOS system and there are other systems out there.

Absolutely.

But take a look at Eos and if you want to talk to somebody who can walk you through it further. Bob, if people reach out to you on the website, on your website, they can email and you'll talk to them.

Yeah, email's fine. Yeah. And so it's Bob and Coach BobDetroit.com and it's the general EOS. It's EOSWorldwide.com. so sorry, I didn't have that straight. But yeah, again, there's a lot, as Gino says, there's a lot of systems out there and our passion is pick one and stick with it. A lot of us visionaries, it's the flavor of the bump. And we go to a conference and we come back and our employees are like, oh, great, what are we doing? And what happens is, you know, they go back to their team now and they say, this is a system that's going to outlive me and you're going to be happier because of it. And so it's, you know, again, I chose it because of the community and the simplicity of it. And so, yeah, it's been a fantastic thing.

Well, terrific Coach Bob, thanks for being with us here.

My pleasure.

And folks, as always, if you have any questions for us, you can always get a hold of us@cpp insiders.com or you can go to Jekyll Hyde labs.com. you can reach out to myself, you can reach out to Justin. And as I'll remind you, we love entrepreneurs. We love the CPG industry. This is all we do. So don't feel like you can't contact us because I just want to ask some questions. You don't have to call up and say, okay, I've got a million dollars. Justin, when you talk to me, I've.

Got a million dollars.

He will talk to you anyways. Then he'll ask you for a million dollars.

Well, of course. Right, obviously.

But he will talk to you first. That's it for this edition of CPG Insiders. We'll see you on the next show. If you're looking to greatly increase sales on your CPG product, don't hesitate to contact us at Jekyll and Hyde Advertising and Marketing, by the way, the only advertising agency with a guaranteed result. Just go to jekyllheidagency.com or feel free to give us a call at 800542.