Traction

By: Gino Wickman

Narrated by: Kevin Pierce

Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's Summary

Do you have a grip on your business, or does your business have a grip on you?

All entrepreneurs and business leaders face similar frustrations: personnel conflict, profit woes, and inadequate growth. Decisions never seem to get made, or once made, fail to be properly implemented. But there is a solution. It’s not complicated or theoretical.

The Entrepreneurial Operating System is a practical method for achieving the business success you have always envisioned. More than 2,000 companies have discovered what EOS can do.

InTraction, you’ll learn the secrets of strengthening the six key components of your business. You’ll discover simple yet powerful ways to run your company that will give you and your leadership team more focus, more growth, and more enjoyment. Successful companies are applying Traction every day to run profitable, frustration-free businesses - and you can too.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2011 Gino Wickman (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Best business & culture building book I've ever read.

I've read almost all of the top books written about building teams, scaling out organizations, building culture, etc. (Rockefeller habits, start with why, good to great, etc. ) and this book tops em all by far.

18 people found this helpful

Not innovative, but a specific process.

There's not really much here that you haven't heard many times before in other business books. The anecdotes and jokes in particular tend to be very tired, and often references other books that the concepts came from. But there is one key way in which it stands out: it presents a list of steps to follow. You certainly could take the book and work through the processes one at a time in your business. (I feel this book is geared to small businesses with 5-200 employees.) That makes it much more practical than many other books. So hey, worth a shot, right?

7 people found this helpful

awesome system for running a business

Loved this book! Very actionable system for establishing new ways and working and getting everyone on the same page with the company direction.

7 people found this helpful

this is for 50+ employee companies, not small ones

I thought this was about how to build a company, it's not. its about how to take a medium sized company and improve/automate it. the content is good, but not what I needed for my small business.

5 people found this helpful

Great business advice

What made the experience of listening to Traction the most enjoyable?

I listened to this while the startup I was working for was going through some hard times. The more I listened to it, the more I realized we were on the wrong path. When attorneys spoke to employees about their ideas on how to fix the company, I felt like I was prepared to make a good case for some change.

What did you like best about this story?

I got what I wanted out of this book and don't feel a need to read more - however if I find myself working for another startup company, it might be time to read it again.

Which character – as performed by Kevin Pierce – was your favorite?

Lots of examples and anecdotes. Without it, this would have been a very boring book, but the plentiful real-life examples made it easy to listen to.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Nothing

Any additional comments?

It makes a good point that company mantras might feel cheesy, but they are needed. If you're going through a list of ideals you want your employees to follow, you will soon realize what you want in a person that you hire - and you will realize the employees you have that don't follow your standards.

4 people found this helpful

Love the concept

I love all the concept. Can’t wait to implement the structure level 10 meeting in our dental office. We have meeting but it is a hit and miss because of crazy schedule. This align with my consultant accountability preaching.
Creates less drama in the organization.

4 people found this helpful

Great Book

Traction was put together well and was very helpful. In my opinion it expands on the book the E Myth. I would advise any business owner and entrepreneur to read and study Traction.

3 people found this helpful

Good

The content is good and the performance is good, but overall, it's just... good. I got some solid nuggets out of this book. The best way I can explain it is that I wouldn't give this book a second read.

2 people found this helpful

A few Good points, stretched over six hours

In my case, this book was not at all life-changing. All the points in there are valid, the main idea is that in order to have a successful organization, there needs to be systems in place, people to follow them, and have the right people in the right mindset. This is all very obvious.

2 people found this helpful

Actionable insights based on real life experience.

I'd recommend this book if you want to transform your company or are starting a new company. It offers a total solution for operational excellence that impacts every aspect of running a business. Some of the content may seem familiar if you tend to read a lot of business books. (In fact many of the main points are quoting other authors.) But there are several great insights in this book that are not available elsewhere, and they are quite helpful for any business owner or executive leader. This book does a good job of taking the key principles of business success and making them actionable. For example, before reading this book I would think, feel, and say that "I hated meetings". This book changed the way I look at meetings, but it didn't stop there. It then gave me a system on exactly how to conduct great meetings. Now, I can say that "I used to hate poorly planned meetings", but now I cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of regular meetings, because they are efficient and effective, and necessary for team communication.
After you read this book you WILL have a SYSTEM that you can use to run your business. As it turns out, SYSTEMS are what business is all about.

I gave it 4/5 stars for "performance" because of a few minor enunciation errors made by the narrator which were quite distracting. Articulation matters! Overall - excellent book and definitely worth a listen!

2 people found this helpful

Pretty good

Some useful tips and ideas like the scorecard.

For large businesses it's great, but for sole traders far less so.

A few really good ideas came from it, but lots of lists make it hard to follow at times. Fine if you're working at a desk whilst listening, but not for in the car etc.

6 people found this helpful

outstanding information, will be buying the book

jam packed full of systems and methods to apply to your book I quickly realised I wanted to write everything this down but in the end just listened through and decided I'd buy the book. honestly I'm not even going to buy the kindle version, I'm going to buy the paperback because I want the information on paper. before you buy the audio book or papepr book you can check on the Eos worldwide website for a bunch of free resources but they mostly won't have context without the book.

3 people found this helpful

Wish someone had told me of this years ago!!!

Business will be a whole new ball game with this system at your disposal. Easy to adopt and implement and the results are so powerful. Your life will actually change for the better.

1 person found this helpful

Solid material

Because it is a process driven system the material is dry
The reader is monotone and this doesn't enliven the content
The EOS is a commendable system and worth implementing

1 person found this helpful

Captivating

Clear, concise, eye opening and honest system to take you from zero to hero if you stay the course, which is attainable. solutions for problems that you thick might hold you back.
I can't wait for this to start being implemented at our company, but will also use my new skills that I learn to realign my personal life. Thank you

How to build a company

Specific, practical and comprehensive guide to making a company. No high level jargon or the famous tales of unicorns, rather it gives examples of smaller companies that is a realistic goal for any startup.

An amazing operating system model for any business

A complete system to bring a great vision to life and massively increase the odds of great execution!

Great practical system to focus your business

Contains a detailed actionable system to put in place the clarity, focus and management in order to make the right things happen to maximise success of a business.
Has to be put into action though - just reading it is of limited use.
I will re-read then action!

Accent not strong enough to allow easy listening

Accent not strong enough to allow easy listening. Some readers have it this one certainly didn't, I'd rate the talker 3

Good Summary of Key Principles

Enjoyed the various examples and thoughts shared in the book. Good listen for budding managers. Narration could have been better. Still good to listen.