Why a former tech executive became an EOS implementer

Executive overview

When a leadership team is built from people trained at different large companies, their management styles collide. EOS provides a single operating system so everyone works together instead of at cross-purposes.

Rick Fawcett spent 28 years in high tech before becoming a certified EOS implementer. A mentor pushed him to coach rather than start another company — and he credits it as the best decision he ever made.

Clarity on roles, combined with freedom to execute, is what unlocks a team's full output.

From skeptic to believer

• Fawcett first encountered EOS at a four-person startup (Origin Digital, part of Accenture).
• He thought bringing in a facilitator for a small team was overkill.
• The implementer turned out to be one of EOS's co-founders.
• Opening question: "Where did you learn how to run a business?" — each leader named a different large corporation.
• The insight: those companies run differently, and some of those methods directly conflict with each other.
• A single operating system resolves that conflict and gets everyone pulling in the same direction.

What changed when EOS was applied

• An accountability chart gave each person a clear role.
• Work stopped concentrating on a handful of people and spread across the whole organization.
• When people know exactly what's expected and have freedom to figure out how, they bring creative problem-solving.
• A whole organization thinking about how to advance the business grows faster than one driven by a few.

The EOS life and what satisfaction looks like

• EOS defines the EOS life: doing what you love, with people you love, making a difference, compensated appropriately, with time for other passions.
• Fawcett measures success by client transformation — seeing where someone was versus where they are one to two years later.
• Example: a client who bought a boat and landed a 75-pound tuna — the freedom that represents is what the work is for.