Hello and welcome back. This episode, I call, Are You Running Your Business Well? So again, a question to ask you. So are you running your business well? So there's this thought that keeps coming to me that I cannot shake. It's been going on for two months. I have been compelled to share this. I've held back and today's the day I'm going to share it. And so the thought that I can't shake is, there's a possible root to why you are not getting full benefit from the 10 Disciplines. And so there's this thing that keeps coming up for me, and as we go into the root in this podcast episode, I want to share with you why this is coming up or what's prompting it.
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I am preparing to do my keynote address at our annual EOS Conference that I do every year. And for the first time ever, I'm going to share my story, for lack of a better term. At the conference, I'm going to share exactly how I started, built and sold EOS worldwide. I've never shared that before and they convinced me to do it. And so what I'm basically going to be doing is sharing 10 obsessions for how I built EOS worldwide. And in that, I'm bringing myself back. It's been seven years since I sold that business and it's bringing me back to that 10, 11 year run of building the business, and it was a very well run business. I don't say that to brag, I just say that because it's true. And so, it got me thinking about well run businesses and it got me thinking about me because I ran that business well while fully maximizing the 10 Disciplines.
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And so, it got me thinking about you, and is your business running well? Because if it's not, you're not going to get full benefit from the 10 Disciplines. Now, I'm going to say it in the crude language that I like to use, and that is, if your business is a shit-show because you're not running it well, you're never going to get the full benefit of the 10 Disciplines. Another way of saying it is like dual universes. Okay? So two scenarios. Implement the 10 Disciplines in your life with a shitty run business compared to implement the 10 Disciplines in your life with a well run business. I know this, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the 10 Disciplines will be much more impactful, much more maximized. You'll receive the full benefit in that second scenario. And so, with that, let's now get to work and dive into what I'm talking about because I'll use an analogy, okay?
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The analogy is let's pretend like I'm the greatest jujitsu trainer on the planet and you come to me to learn jujitsu and I'm going to meet with you every week, and there's these incredible 10 great moves that I teach you that will help you win the jujitsu tournament that you want to win at the end of the year. Okay? And so, that's our relationship. And then other than that, I only see you once a week, and that's the extent of our relationship. Well, when I don't see you, if you're eating bad, if you're not exercising, if you're not getting any sleep and you're drinking alcohol like a sailor, there's a pretty good chance that I'll never be able to help you be great because your life is a shit show. So hopefully, that analogy makes sense because now we're going to flip it back to business.
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So another very specific point is that if your business is not running well, let's take one of the Disciplines. You just can't take time off. So if your company's not running well and you don't have a strong team in place to free you up to take time off, you just can't take time off. And therefore, you can never really fully recharge your batteries and you just will not fully maximize the benefit of that particular discipline. Ultimately, what we want you to do is be able to take a one-month sabbatical and if you don't have a strong team in place, you can't take a one-day sabbatical even though there's no such thing, but you can't take a 30-day sabbatical. So all that said, I'm going to take you to my personal definition of a well-run business, as a way for you to do a checkup on how you are doing running your business, and to hopefully help you see some weak points to help you strengthen that and run your business well.
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So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take you through five questions for you to do a little checkup on yourself and your business. Ultimately, this is helping you make sure that the foundation is strong. Then what I'm going to do is I'm going to throw a little EOS at you, but I am not teaching you EOS here, but I want to be able to direct you to a tool that will help you with the question, but it's more about the question and you seeing this vividly in your mind and honestly answering the current state of your company and how well your business is being run, so that we can get these 10 Disciplines to work well for you.
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The first question I would ask you is, how clear is your vision? What that means is that you as a driven entrepreneur, a visionary at the helm of your organization, is your vision out of your brain, in a document, where your leadership team is crystal clear, 100% on the same page, all bought into that vision, and that vision has been shared with the entire organization, and you share that every 90 days, okay?
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And so that tool, i.e vision, we call that the Vision Traction Organizer in EOS. So you can go get that tool from their website. But the point here is regardless of the tool, ask yourself and answer that question honestly. And if that's not the case, that your vision is out of your brain, into the brain of your leadership teams, and every person in your organization, you've got some work to do because your company is not running as well as it could be.
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Question number two is, is your organization structured right? And do you have all the right people in the right seats? Said another way, do you have a strong leadership team where every function in your business, marketing, sales, ops, finance, IT, whatever the functions of your business are, do you have rock stars sitting in every one of those seats? Do you have an integrator at the helm orchestrating those major functions, leading and managing those people, ultimately freeing you up to fully be in your visionary seat, in your magnificence sitting at the top of the organization? And so ask yourself, is that the current state? And if not, you've got some work to do. The tool there is the Accountability Chart, but bringing you back to this question, if you have any weak links on your leadership team or multiple weak links on your leadership team, you are just not fully freed up and your company is not running as well as it could.
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Number three, are you setting and achieving quarterly priorities with your leadership team? Are you and your leadership team crystal clear on the three to seven most important things that need to get done in the next 90 days? And do you hold each other accountable to get those things done? And do you accomplish 80% or more every single quarter? Again, the tool there, we call those Rocks, but again, do a checkup on yourself. Are you setting and achieving quarterly priorities as a team every 90 days? And if not, your company's not running as well as it could.
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Number four, are you meeting with your leadership team every single week for 90 minutes, solving the most important problems, making sure all of your numbers are on track, your people are happy and your priorities are on track? In addition to that, are you meeting every quarter for a full day, quarterly, and two days every year for your annual planning session? If you're not doing those things, your company is just not running as well as it could. We call that meeting the Level 10 Meeting and then the quarterly and annual meetings.
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And question number five is, are you monitoring the five to 15 most important numbers in your organization? Activity-based numbers, making sure that every number is on track weekly? And if not, are you holding each other accountable to get that number back on track? Again, if you're not doing this, your company is just not running as well as it could be. And that tool is called the Scorecard. So are you keeping a weekly scorecard in your business? So those are the five questions, and the goal is to get to all yeses because let's take you back to the whole point. If you have five yeses, the foundation for your organization is strong, your organization is well run, and therefore, you implementing these 10 Disciplines in your life will be much, much more impactful. Said another way. When your company vision is clear and you are surrounded by great people who are executing, holding each other accountable and solving problems, it creates a level of freedom to fully maximize the 10 Disciplines in your life.
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And so I close with this. I would urge you to think about those five questions and just pick one. Please don't feel like... If you answered no five times, don't get overwhelmed by that. Just simply pick one thing. One thing you said no to, and start the process of turning that into a yes. Start the process of strengthening all five, because again, when the foundation is strong, the 10 Disciplines are magically better.
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Thank you for listening in today. We truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with us, and please, tune in for the next episode. Until then, if you'd like to see where you are on your True Self journey, go to shedandshinepodcast.com to take the True Self-assessment and receive personalized guidance. If you're all ready to begin your inner world journey with Rob and myself, please join us for the next round of the 10 Disciplines group coaching program. We wish you all the best in freeing your True Self, stay focused and much love.
