The Genius of the AND - It's EOS AND Metronomics not EOS OR Metronomics

Its Not "EOS OR Metronomics" its "EOS AND Metronomics".

I've noticed a pattern over the last few years. Many of the CEOs who approach me have used some other execution/growth system either self-implemented or with the help of an implementer or a coach. When we start talking about their situation, a really common story emerges; they hit a wall at between $4M - $6M revenue and they just can't seem to break through beyond that. They might have worked with EOS, Scaling Up or the Great Game of Business or any of the many other Execution focused growth systems but they have stalled. They ask themselves is it me? is it my team? is it the market? but they can't really work out why they can't break the $6M revenue barrier.

Now here's the thing, they invariably have a leadership team in place and they generally have execution and cash under control. Most quarters they hit their targets and complete their 3 - 5 priorities. They have got a reasonably clear picture of what they want to do and why and they most likely have core values in place (but they might not be lived by all the team most of the time). But even with this, they can't break the $6M revenue barrier. Sometimes they just manage to push through but it is so hard that within 6 - 12 months they retreat back to the $4M - $6M; whilst is it frustrating, it is easier day to day.

I've now seen this often enough to realise there is a pattern here and this is why I think this is happening. To explain this I am going to lean on one of Jim Collin’s concepts called “The Genius of the AND” from his great book “Built to Last”. The Genius of the AND is a concept that says for companies to be truly successful, they need to be able to grasp two often contradictory concepts and live by both. He argues that this is a trait shared by many visionary companies but rarely by unsuccessful companies. How does this apply to which growth system you are using? Well all of the growth systems I mentioned earlier share many characteristics, they have methods for execution (priorities/rocks, metrics, meeting rhythms), they all have people and process elements and many tie the metrics to cash but the one thing these other systems do not have is a strategy process. Sure they may have a box in their one page plans to put a strategy down on paper but they don’t have a process to formulate strategy using market insights and data. In Metronomics we have a very detailed and prescriptive strategy creation system that shows you, step by step, how to formulate a simple and differentiated strategy that can be communicated clearly to the team and anyone else who needs to understand this.

Last year at our conference in Whistler I spent some time chatting to Jack Stack, the creator of “The Great Game of Business” (who I am a huge fan of). His system is incredible but one thing it doesn’t have is a strategic formulation process. He has built some great businesses but one thing he said really struck me. He regretted not incorporating a strategy process into “The Great Game of Business” and really liked the approach we use in Metronomics. Indeed, he was considering adopting it within his very large portfolio of businesses.

Now how does all this relate to the “Genius of the AND”? Well, if you have read Metronomics you may have realised that although we refer to the components of execution, we don’t cover it in any real detail. Yes, we talk about the need for metrics and priorities (rocks) and we also mandate a meeting rhythm structure very similar to EOS and Scaling Up but we don’t go into the detail. This is because it is well covered within the other systems and we don’t need to go over it again.

So why did I choose this title for this article? When CEOs who come to me have already implemented EOS or Scaling Up, they are concerned that they will have to throw what they have put in place away and start again. Here is the great news, nothing gets discarded as Metronomics is designed to be a “plug and play” business operating system and EOS, Scaling Up just plug straight in as an execution system and we layer the other systems in Metronomics over the top. The team see this as an AND not an OR so everything seems familiar and over time we add the additional Metronomics components as we go. It is EOS AND Metronomics not EOS OR Metronomics.

#Metronomics #GrowthWithConfidence #ScaleUp #3HAG