After completing the Core Values exercise for your organization (learn how on pages 34-45 of Traction) you can make them come alive with a Core Values Speech (see examples on pages 39-44 of Traction) and also with your company’s Core Values Book. This book captures stories from employees, customers and vendors about how your company’s values resonate with them. Let them tell a story about how one or more of your values supported a fellow employee or how it gave a customer a reason to return.

As I began to read this book, I was reminded of a book co-authored by Chip and Dan Heath in which they explain why a few ideas "stick" but most don't. It can also be said about business initiatives in that some have "traction" but most don't. That is Gino Wickman's core thesis. As he explains, most entrepreneurs experience one or (probably) more of five common frustrations: lack of control, underperforming workers, insufficient (if any) profits, limited growth potential, and dysfunctional operations. In a phrase, they can't "get a grip" on their business. What they need is what Wickman characterizes as a "holistic, self-sustaining system that addresses the six aspects of a business": Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction. What he offers is the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) that, if "mastered" (i.e. installed and then maintained properly), will enable business leaders to integrate the six components of their business "into a powerful framework that will help [them] gain traction and realize the vision [they've] always had for [their] company."

Two epidemics kill cultures: end-runs and unresolved complaining. These epidemics have a powerful cure in the form of a simple question.

If you’re like most small to medium size entrepreneurial companies, you’ve probably tried to visually display how your company is structured or organized. So what’s the best way to do that – with an accountability chart or an organizational chart? What’s the difference?

Teddy Roosevelt once said that “the best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”