Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

Synopsis:

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. Based on years of real-world implementation in more than 100 companies, the Entrepreneurial Operating System® is a practical method for achieving the business success you have always envisioned.

In Traction, 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.

For an illustrative, real-world lesson on how to apply Traction to your business, check out its companion book, Get A Grip.

Review by Patrick:

Occasionally I don't just read fantasy and fiction. Every once in a while I get out a leadership book and see what someone else has said on the topic. This particular book came as a recommendation from my boss, and I have to say, it was a good recommendation.

This book was one that broke down "how to get where you want to go." It started with your big ideas, your dreams, and systematically got narrower and narrower until you got your head out of the clouds and you feet on the ground (where you had traction). It had great ideas for what to accomplish and when. My favorite idea were the rocks.

In addition to just breaking the ideas down, the author gives tools, big ones for each main idea, and supplementary tools to help enhance each main tool.

I also get the sense that Wickman actually has done this before. He gives his own business story, and countless stories of his clients who he helps through this process. These examples illustrate each point and help identify how to pull an idea together, what an exceptionally dedicated management team can accomplish, or show what happens when the team disregards the component.

Also, be realistic. You won't change your organization over night. As Wickman states, some over-zealous clients might get all components implemented in as little as six months, but some take up to three years. It takes time to change any one person's behavior, but changing how an organization thinks, reacts, and behaves takes time.

Great book. I can't wait to start implementing these ideas in my own organization. There are tips in here that seem so intuitive, but no one is doing them. I'm giving this book a high rating, because I think it really will help a lot of businesses and leaders.