What Growing Companies Learn Over Time

When I joined Ninety, I had a pretty clear idea of what I thought my role would be. But that changed quickly as the company grew.

Over the years, I’ve held five Seats and spent a lot of time solving problems that didn’t fit neatly into one department. That experience taught me something every growing company eventually has to learn: The way you work has to keep getting better as the business gets bigger.

For teams running on EOS®, that means listening to customer feedback, giving team members enough structure to move faster, and knowing how work gets done across the company.

It also means admitting when the old way has reached its limit. A lot of what we know now came from working through those growing pains. Growth asks more from your team, your processes, and even your customers. The companies that handle it well keep learning and use those lessons to make better decisions as they grow.

Focus Points
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
- Bill Gates

What EOS Leaders Can Learn From 10 Years of Ninety

Christine Watts was Ninety’s first FTE, so she’s seen a lot change along the way.

In her latest blog, she shares six lessons about building a company that lasts and getting better as you grow.

1. Stay close to customer feedback.
2. Build around how customers operate.
3. Protect the customer experience as you scale.
4. Use structure to help teams move faster.
5. Stay willing to adapt.
6. Know what kind of work gives people energy.

Maz Prompt of the Week

Ask: Help me identify an issue around protecting the customer experience as we automate more of our work.

Impact Moments
12 Companies, Real Impact ft. Jim Coyle

Some lessons only become clear after you’ve done the work for a while.

Before Jim Coyle became an EOS Implementer®, he had already run 12 companies. In this episode, Jim joins me and Christine to share what those experiences taught him, how finding Gino Wickman’s book Traction changed the way he approached building companies, and why leaders sometimes just need to get out of the way.