Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business book club questions

1. 1.

   Which of the six EOS components is most obviously missing or weakest in a business you know well? What's the cost of that gap?

2. 2.

   Run the GWC test on someone in your life who seems frustrated in their role. Do they Get it, Want it, have the Capacity for it? Which one is missing?

3. 3.

   Wickman says most companies operate with fuzzy vision and that people fill the gaps with their own interpretations. What misalignments have you seen caused by that ambiguity?

4. 4.

   If you built a Scorecard for your current work, what five to ten numbers would actually tell you whether you're heading in the right direction before the results show up?

5. 5.

   Level 10 Meetings have a rigid structure. What meetings in your experience could be improved by that kind of structural discipline?

6. 6.

   The IDS method — Identify, Discuss, Solve — is designed to force real resolution rather than repeated conversation about the same problem. What recurring issue in your work has never been fully resolved?

7. 7.

   Wickman frames the 90-day cycle as the right planning horizon for execution. What happens when you plan in annual cycles instead?

8. 8.

   The book distinguishes a company's core values from its aspirational values. What are the real operating values — the ones you can see in daily behavior — of a company you know?

9. 9.

   EOS requires the leadership team to operate with high levels of trust and willingness to surface issues openly. What organizational cultures would make that particularly hard?

10. 10.

    Wickman is explicit that EOS works for companies of a certain size and stage. Where do you think the framework breaks down or would need significant adaptation?

11. 11.

    What's the difference between a Rock and a task? Have you seen goal-setting systems collapse because people treated strategic priorities like to-do items?

12. 12.

    The book advocates for a simple, consistent process document rather than elaborate manuals. What process in your work would benefit most from being written down simply and followed consistently?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.