Traction summary

When we reflect on Steve Jobs’s tenure at Apple, it’s clear his work inspired many people. After all, his goal was to build a company that didn’t just create technology but improved humanity.

While the goal of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) isn’t as lofty, its powers shouldn’t be underestimated.

This entrepreneurial tool is like an abbreviated business plan, seeking answers to a series of questions to get your company on track. It has six steps.

The first is to define a vision for your company.

Your vision will guide every other process and decision in your organization, which means that it needs to be crystal clear. It will define your organization, where it goes and how it gets there.

Beyond that, your vision needs to be understood and shared by everyone in the organization. If it isn’t, your employees won’t move or act in concert.

Finding a vision begins by defining what you want to be like as an organization. To do so, have your leadership team identify two things: your core values and your core focus.

Your core values are three to seven fundamental principles by which your company is guided.

For example, among the core values of American restaurant chain Zoup! Fresh Soup Company are a “can do” attitude and a passion for the company’s brand. These values determine who the company hires as well as how it handles staff, clients and business partners.

Once you’ve defined your core values, you can move to your core focus by defining what your company seeks to provide. Or, to put it another way, which needs your company wants to satisfy.

Why is defining this focus important?

Let’s look at laser printer service and supply company, Image One. The company faced problems when it expanded its business into computer networking.

Amid the turmoil, company executives reminded themselves of Image One’s core focus: to simplify the printing environment of its clients.

So they decided to ditch the computer division and stick to their core focus. Ever since, the company has thrived, experiencing an annual average growth rate of 30 percent.