FAQ
Frequently asked questions
The questions we actually get on calls, answered the way we'd answer them on the phone.
What does an EOS Implementer do?
An EOS Implementer teaches, facilitates, and coaches a leadership team through the Entrepreneurial Operating System. We run full-day sessions, teach the tools, keep hard conversations productive, and hold the team — founder included — accountable to the rhythm between sessions.
It's deliberately not consulting. We don't write your strategy, restructure your company, or hand you a report. We run the process and teach your team to run it themselves. The goal is for you to stop needing us.
What's the difference between self-implementing and working with an EOS Implementer?
A self-implementing team runs the tools on their own, usually led by someone inside the company working from the books and the free resources. An EOS Implementer is an outside facilitator who's run the process with many teams, teaches the tools, and can push the founder in front of their own team.
Self-implementing costs nothing, but it asks for internal capacity and objectivity that most companies don't have spare. The usual failure point is that the person leading it reports to the founder — which makes it very hard to hold the founder accountable when the rhythm slips.
How long does it take to implement EOS?
The first year covers a Focus Day, two Vision Building days, quarterlies, and an annual — and that's when most of the change happens. Most teams need about two years of facilitated sessions before they're running the tools well without help.
You'll feel the weekly meeting and the Scorecard within a month. The structural change — right people in the right seats, the founder out of the day-to-day — takes several quarters, because it depends on people decisions that are worth making slowly.
What happens in a Focus Day?
One full day with your leadership team. You'll build your Accountability Chart, set Rocks for the quarter, put together a weekly Scorecard, and learn to run a Level 10 Meeting. The team walks out using the tools that same week.
What is a Vision Building session?
Two full days, about a month apart, where your leadership team gets the vision out of your head and onto paper. It becomes a two-page Vision/Traction Organizer: core values, core focus, ten-year target, marketing strategy, three-year picture, one-year plan, and quarterly Rocks.
What does it cost?
Implementers charge by the session rather than on retainer, so what you spend depends on how many session days your team has each year. And you only pay for the days your team found worth it.
What if a session isn't worth it?
Then you don't pay for it. If your leadership team gets to the end of a session day and doesn't feel it was worth the time and the money, say so and there's no charge for that day.
We work that way because it keeps us on our toes. It's our guarantee to you, one that every EOS Implementer offers their client. Every session has to earn its place, which is a healthier thing to work under than a signed contract.
Do you work with companies outside Chicago?
Yes. We're based in Wilmette, and most of our in-person work is across Chicago, the North Shore, and Chicagoland. But we run sessions elsewhere, and we work remotely with leadership teams spread across multiple locations.
What size company is right for EOS?
Roughly 10 to 250 employees is the sweet spot. Under ten, you may not have a leadership team to align yet. Well above 250, the structure usually needs adapting. What matters more than headcount is whether there is a real leadership team, and a founder willing to change.
What's the difference between EOS and Traction?
Traction is Gino Wickman's book, which explains the system. EOS is the system itself — the tools, the meeting rhythm, and the process an implementer runs with your team. Plenty of people say "we run on Traction" and mean they run on EOS.
How do I choose an EOS Implementer?
Talk to two or three, and weigh chemistry as heavily as credentials. You want someone your team will be honest in front of, who has actually operated a business, who will tell you when you are the problem, and who is close enough to be in the room.
We know the Chicago-area implementers well. If we're not the right fit, ask — we'll point you toward someone who is.
Still curious about the system itself? Read what EOS actually is, or look at the session pages: Focus Day, Vision Building, and quarterlies and annuals.