Book Review: “Traction” by Gino Wickman

Why We Love This Book

It’s as if Gino Wickman took 20 good business books, translated them into non-business MBA speak, and wrote an instruction manual on how to operate a business. We suggest this book for every client who hasn’t already read it. Easy to read, lots of drawings and pictures, and filled with valuable pieces of business advice.

The EOS system described in the book puts key business concepts into a written code for business owners to implement and follow. The core concepts of Vision, Data, Process, People (how you coach and evaluate them), Issues (how you identify and resolve them) and Traction (aka goal setting and meeting rhythm) are things which, if implemented well, are absolutely sure to bring clarity to your employees and structure to your business’s day-to-day, week-to-week life. As the book says, you need a good operating system to run your business on, and EOS has given you the entire template to just plug and play.

Any Criticisms

EOS has become like a religion for some companies. The language of “Rocks”, “Level 10 Meetings”, and “VT/O” is certainly specific to Traction/EOS readers and followers. If you’re using the terminology around those people who have yet to be introduced to Traction/EOS, those people will be lost. The Visionary-Implementer org structure can, in my opinion, also be a little off-putting if your organization has matured to the level where you have a management team that wants equal footing and reporting to ownership. It also feels a little like a sales pitch by the end, as many books written by people who have a service to sell often do. Still, for business people who are great at their craft but can use some ideas of how to structure communication and management of their business, this book is well worth the time.