Shortform Books

EOS Management: A Holistic Approach to Business

The EOS management system is a holistic business management model created by entrepreneurial expert and business consultant Gino Wickman. The EOS management system builds or strengthens six key business components that the author discovered while turning around his family’s company. To avoid or overcome the challenges holding your business back, Wickman writes that you must follow six key steps. When you properly implement these steps, your business can function smoothly without your constant attention. We’ll explain how to complete each step so your company becomes successful, self-sustaining, and ready for growth.

Setting the Table by Danny Meyer: Book Overview & Lessons

A photo of Danny Meyer presenting at TEDx

What separates restaurants that thrive for decades from those that close within a year? Restaurateur Danny Meyer argues the answer lies in what he calls “enlightened hospitality”—a philosophy that puts people first. In Setting the Table, Meyer shares how this approach transformed him from a young salesman into the founder of Union Square Hospitality Group. This guide breaks down Meyer’s journey and the principles that made his restaurants successful in one of the world’s most competitive dining scenes. We’ll also examine how his philosophy translates into practical strategies for hiring, handling mistakes, and building lasting customer relationships.

6 Essential Qualities of a Good Business That Turned Great

Four buildings representing the qualities of a good business

In Good to Great, former Stanford business professor Jim Collins offers a primer on turning the average into the exceptional. Through detailed case studies of 11 companies that went from tracking the market to exceeding it by at least 3x, Collins presents the key factors that separate merely good organizations from great ones—from rare leadership to disciplined thinking to the dogged pursuit of a core mission. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a manager, or just an individual looking to improve, the concepts in Good to Great provide food for thought—and spurs to action. We’ll cover six qualities of a good business

How to Create a Company Vision: Your Business’s Guiding Star

A leader showing the company's vision to employees on a laptop

A company vision consists of the values, beliefs, and principles that guide the business towards its ultimate purpose. Most business owners have a clear idea of what they want their company to become, but the problem is that oftentimes, others in the organization don’t see it. In Traction, Gino Wickman argues that a company vision is a core part of a business’s success. Here is how to create your company vision and make sure it is understood and internalized across all of your business functions.

Jim Collins’s Level 5 Leadership: The Ultimate Guide

What are “Level 5” leaders? How do you become one? Level 5 leadership is a principle behind “good-to-great” companies that are led by “Level 5” leaders. These leaders are personally humble but professionally driven executives, and they make the best leaders of companies. Level 5 leadership is a rare type that can help your business soar. We’ll cover what Jim Collins’s Level 5 leadership concept is (from Good to Great), who Level 5 leaders are, and how to become one.

Business Scorecard: Keep Your Business on Track

How can creating a business scorecard help you monitor performance and stay on track towards your business objectives? Most companies rely instead on a P&L statement, but by the time you get it, problems have already occurred. A business scorecard offers organizations a snapshot of their current performance as benchmarked against their goals. With the business scorecard, you can see where you are and, if necessary, change where you’re headed. Here is how to create your business scorecard in five simple steps.

Building a Successful Team: The Complete Guide

How do you build a successful business when the direction isn’t fully clear yet? Start by putting the right people on the team first. Research on great companies shows that who you hire matters more than which strategy you choose at the outset. In Good to Great, Jim Collins explains why assembling the right team lays the groundwork for building a successful business. Below, you’ll learn how strong team dynamics support change, encourage healthy debate, and help leaders move faster by relying on people who are aligned, capable, and committed.

How to Streamline Business Processes in Just 3 Steps

A group of workers planning how to streamline business processes

Do you struggle to streamline your business processes? How can you introduce structure into your processes so that they run smoothly without your constant oversight? Your company has a few key processes that keep it running—together, they constitute your unique “way” of doing business. To keep it running smoothly, you need to streamline your business processes in a systematic way. Keep reading to learn how to streamline your business processes in three simple steps.

Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle—The Complete Business Guide

Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle is a concept from his book Start with Why. The Golden Circle visualizes the structure of an organization and looks like a bullseye target with three rings. The bullseye at the center is the WHY, the next ring out is the HOW, and the largest ring is the WHAT. When making decisions or communicating, you begin at the center with the WHY, then migrate out to the HOW, then finally the WHAT. We’ll cover what Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle is, how to use it, and why it’s an essential business tool.

Resolving Workplace Issues: Traction’s Systematic Approach

A manager trying to solve workplace issues with employees

How do you identify workplace issues? What can you do to root them out before they escalate and compromise your key business functions? Many leadership teams talk endlessly about problems without solving them. But unresolved workplace issues or problems drain your company’s energy. In Traction, Gino Wickman says that successful businesses also need a consistent way to identify and solve problems. He explains that many leadership teams fall into the trap of discussing the same problems repeatedly without actually solving them. When issues remain unresolved, they drain your company’s energy and resources, getting in the way of your goals. Here