Coming soon · Book Profile
Traction_ Get a Grip on Your Business
A practical operating system (EOS) that helps entrepreneurial leaders strengthen six key components of their business to gain control, traction, and growth.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
Traction presents the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a holistic, practical framework distilled from over a decade of hands-on work with entrepreneurial leadership teams. Rather than offering theory or silver-bullet fads, Gino Wickman shows how every great organization is built by strengthening six interdependent components—Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction—using a small set of simple, proven tools like the Vision/Traction Organizer, the Accountability Chart, the People Analyzer, the Scorecard, the Issues Solving Track, core process documentation, Rocks, and a disciplined Meeting Pulse. For business owners frustrated by lack of control, the wrong people, insufficient profit, hitting a growth ceiling, and failed quick fixes, Traction provides a concrete, repeatable way to clarify a shared vision, put the right people in the right seats, manage by numbers, solve issues permanently, systemize the business, and execute relentlessly in 90-day cycles—turning a chaotic company into a well-oiled, self-sustaining machine.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- An entrepreneurial business owner or leader of a small-to-mid-size company who has achieved some success and wants to reach the next level with more control, profit, and a great team.
- The problem
- The business is stuck—lack of control, people problems, insufficient profit, a growth ceiling, and failed quick-fix initiatives. The owner feels overwhelmed, frustrated, exhausted, and unsure what to do next—as if the business owns them rather than the reverse.
- The plan
- Let go of the vine: embrace four fundamental beliefs and build a true leadership team.
- Clarify and share your vision using the Vision/Traction Organizer's eight questions.
- Get the right people in the right seats using core values, the People Analyzer, the Accountability Chart, and GWC.
- Manage by data with a weekly Scorecard and give everyone a number.
- Identify and permanently solve issues with the Issues Solving Track.
- The payoff
- You feel more in control, happier, and less stressed. · Your organization is more profitable, focused, and staffed by the right people in the right seats. · Everyone shares the vision, communicates well, solves their own problems, and is accountable.
See our guide
Related profiles we’ve built
- Ben Horowitz - The Hard Thing About Hard Things_ Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers (2014, HarperBusiness) - libgen.li →
- Blitzscaling →
- Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition (Collins Business Essentials) →
- Founder’s Pocket Guide_ Stock Options and Equity Compensation →
- Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success →
- Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products →
- Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results →
- Antifragile (Incerto) →
Additional reading
- High Output Management · Andy Grove
Horowitz calls it the best management book he's ever read and credits it with changing his career, particularly its chapter on why training is the manager's job. He models his concept of 'Ones and Twos' and competence from Grove.
- Only the Paranoid Survive · Andy Grove
Cited as a key text on wartime leadership and navigating strategic inflection points, such as when Intel exited the memory business. Horowitz refers to Grove as a great wartime CEO.
- Good to Great · Jim Collins
Horowitz references Collins's research showing that internal CEO candidates outperform external ones, which he uses as a jumping-off point to discuss his 'Ones and Twos' theory of leadership succession.
- Built to Last · Jim Collins
Horowitz discusses and refines Collins's finding that lasting companies have 'cult-like cultures,' arguing that the key is not weirdness itself but creating provocative, shocking mechanisms that reinforce core values and change daily behavior.
- Yertle the Turtle · Dr. Seuss
Recommended as a 'management masterpiece' that explains the dangers of managers who have the wrong kind of ambition (personal ambition over company ambition).
- The One Minute Manager · Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
Cited as the source for the 'Shit Sandwich' feedback technique, which Horowitz presents as a basic, often insufficient method for experienced managers.
- Netflix Reference Guide on Our Freedom and Responsibility Culture · Reed Hastings / Netflix
Presented as a prime example of a CEO (Reed Hastings) putting great effort into designing a system that enables employees to be maximally effective and run a well-managed organization.
- Crossing the Chasm · Geoffrey Moore
Explains the critical strategic shift required to move a product from early adopters to the mainstream market, a key challenge for any company transitioning from startup to scale-up.
- The Alliance · Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh
Provides a framework for managing talent in the Networked Age, focusing on building mutually beneficial relationships with employees ('tours of duty'), which is critical for retaining talent during the chaos of blitzscaling.
- Zero to One · Peter Thiel
Argues for the importance of building monopolies through unique technological advantages, which complements the blitzscaling focus on creating dominance through speed and business model innovation.