Jeremy Weisz 14:51
Awesome. Yeah. Thanks for walking through. And if you’re listening to the audio, you’ll be able to see you can go to learn more about Kevin also eosworldwide.com/kevin-hundal. And you’ll be able to see it and look through Kevin’s background and some of the things he’s talking about. And I guess we could talk a little bit, I want to talk about the family business piece because you’ve helped other family businesses as well. But so like putting this into action with EOS model, the next part is the process, right? And so, with you, how do people start, they’re like, this sounds great. Maybe they’ve been self-employed, maybe they’ve heard it’s good, maybe they are not doing anything and they want to professionalize it like you said, how does it work?
Kevin Hundal 15:39
Yeah. So, the EOS has its proven process, which has been tested, right? And there’s 20,000 plus companies running on the system. And through the system and understanding as Gino built it the way to Brach, you bring it to teams, and companies it was developed as the EOS process, which is essentially an organization that, I think it’s important understand what type of organizations fit for the system as well, right organizations that are between five and 250 employees that are open minded, that are not afraid of change that want to challenge the status quo that are vulnerable, they’re actually target market or entrepreneurial firms, right, that really want to grow in scale. Really, the first step is something we call the 90-minute meeting. And it’s so interesting, because a 90-minute meeting, sometimes it’s 90 minutes is the first time a team actually sits down and reflects on where they’re at as a business. So in 90 minutes, we go through about four things. Number one, we tell the organization, the leadership team about us and about the system about myself, learn a little bit about the business. And it’s interesting, because we ask specific questions around the room, how clear are we on the vision of the business, and you get scores and ratings and you get to see the different variability and how successful are our internal meetings, and you get to see the variability and see the eyes start opening up with people saying, wow, we have opportunity here. And in that 90-minute meeting, that we actually walked through the tools of EOS and what the actual process is when you implement it, right. So, in that 90-minute video is kind of the introduction, if you will, where we open up the firehose on EOS and get organizations to understand what the system is from there teams get to go back and discuss right and collaborate and get the buy in if this is really something they want to do. And if it is that essentially we are on what we call a two-year journey with our clients in the system, right. And over that two year journey, essentially, as a implementer, your whip declined for about 11, full days, over two years working the system.
Jeremy Weisz 17:45
Can you talk about some of the breakthroughs you’ve seen in some of the 90-minute meetings, because you mentioned just in the 90-minute meeting place you mentioned and this is something I think anyone could go back to their team and maybe do this experiment and say, ask the different team members on a team meeting what’s the vision and hear what people have to say, what are some breakthroughs you’ve seen in just that 90-minute initial meeting?
Kevin Hundal 18:08
Yeah, like I said is it’s really interesting is in the 90-minute meeting, sometimes that’s the first time that the team has sat down around a table and actually collaboratively discuss things, right. Because as we know, business is complex. There’s a lot going on, and leadership, team members and managers of organizations are just working, doing the work doing the work. So actually, I think the first breakthrough is a sigh of relief, like, oh, let’s sit down. And actually we can have a collaborative conversation around the business. And so I think that’s number one is just the emotional element of it to say we can sigh, take a sigh of relief and breathe a little bit have a conversation as a team. The real other big one is where you get to see the disparity in which maybe one person on a leadership team sees where we’re going as a business versus another person. And where we’re going in we’re that is the byproduct of us having to do more work and get less results, right, as opposed to managing human energy. And I’ve had some breakthroughs in the room where it’s people, our leadership team saying, well, I didn’t know that’s actually what the goal of the business is, I thought it was this right? And you’re like, okay, well, let’s talk about the goal, right? And what do we really want to get out of the business? Because these are some natural conversations that take place. You also see really where you have typically visionary in a business, right? They’re the founder, they’re the thought leader, they’re managing the big relationship. There’s got a ton of ideas, and they’re moving 100 miles an hour. What do you get the other folks in the room get to understand and see the system and they’re like, oh, thank you. Yeah, we need this right. We want this like, how do we get this in? How do we get this discipline, accountability and how do we get this system in our business because I’ll be at our leader and our visionaries, magnificent they always are. There usually is an organized way to bring the ideas and thoughts into the business to execute the plan. So you get several breakthroughs that are sometimes it’s a big hug from someone just saying wow, like, we need this? Right? We’ve been craving this help us get this accountability and structure in our business.
Jeremy Weisz 20:06
I want to get into the how you’ve helped your business, also how you’ve helped other businesses that are family-run businesses as well. But how does the pricing work for the 90 Minute? That initial 90-minute meeting?
Kevin Hundal 20:23
Yeah, so the 90-minute meeting is no cost. It’s us as implementers donating our time, or me doing our time to the clients. And I always tell people are interested in the system. I said, just do the 90 minute because you’re gonna get free tools out of that 90-minute meeting that you can go self-implement, right, and you can get gains in your business tomorrow. And hopefully, you buy me a beer at the end of it. Right. And that’s usually the thought of it. So the 90 Minute really doesn’t cost anything. It’s more about sharing the gift of EOS with people.
Jeremy Weisz 20:53
Love it. So you help them multigenerational business. Yeah. Talk about that — what you did.
Kevin Hundal 21:01
Yeah. So, one of my clients, multi-generational business with three different generations involved in what they deemed as the leadership team, which is a natural phenomenon, right? I came through a family business, and it’s like, my little brother joined the company, of course, he’s gonna have a seat on the leadership team, right? He shares the same last name as me, why not? Right, let’s maximize his unique ability by his last name. And that’s a natural phenomenon of family business. And in this case, we had a husband and wife partnership, right, running the business and three siblings and then grandchildren in the business as well. So you had about six people who were family, on the leadership team, and you had four folks who are non-family on what they deemed as a leadership team in, the beauty for me and what filled my heart through the journey of EOS with that specific team was not only was there dysfunction in the organization, but there’s dysfunction in the family relationship because of the organization. And I know that firsthand, right, I had many nights losing sleep because of dysfunctions on my brothers because of my business until we figured it out through EOS. But in this specific example, you could see the friction, you could see everything brewing, and it was a lot of history. And there’s a lot of baggage there a lot of baggage, a lot of history, a lot of uncertainty of what is this business going to do? Who’s getting what are we selling it? Is it going to be a legacy are we going to continue with it. And really, that disconnect was showing up in just the way they communicated with one another. And being a family person, I just kind of cut right through and I said, hey, just feels like we just got all this stuff happening here. What is going to be the best for all of us in the room? Let’s open it up. And let’s talk about it and the system. The way it’s designed with Gino was a genius at doing was the first thing you do is you build the accountability chart. And you work through who is on the leadership team and more than who’s on it. What’s the right structure for us as an organization putting names aside? So it’s kind of like when we went through that exercise that day and I knew I was entering the danger and I was ready for the danger. Because I thrive on that, because that’s where breakthroughs happen is, how’s it let’s paint the structure of the organization? How many functions do we have on this leadership team? We’ve got 10 people in the room? Do we have a visionary in the room? Do you have an integrator we have sales and marketing? Operations? Finance? Do we have an HR function that’s on the leadership team? Do we have a technology function? And you kind of see the room and everybody looking at each other and saying okay, well, something’s about to occur here. And we had a breakthrough, it took some time, about six hours of conversation, but the they stepped up and said, here’s what the structure looks like. And I said, this is a structure that is going to get us to where we want to go now let’s put names and boxes. So of course, that’s where the things start coming up of like who’s in their unique ability, who’s the right person in the right seat to take, the finance either the sales and marketing seat. And ultimately, Jeremy, what happened is there was a lot of emotion, there was breakthroughs. By the end of day there was hogs, there was a little animosity that took a couple more meetings to get through for certain folks. But as I reflect on it today, which has been now like three years, everyone in that family is happy. Everyone on that leadership team is happy, though, the for folks who are non-family like thank you, because now we can actually scale this business in a healthy way. And we’ve got everybody operating in their unique ability. So, more than just a business case study. I think it’s the beauty of family, right families first and allowing that family to prosper through the system was just a gift to see.
Jeremy Weisz 24:49
Kevin, what happens when you’re working through the accountability chart. And then someone is either not on that accountability chart doesn’t know maybe not a play some or They’re not, there’s a disagreement like, I should be in that whatever visionary role, and you have me in this other role. Yeah, yeah. And I would say, majority of the time you have something like that occur where there’s folks in the room and there isn’t a seat for them, right?
Kevin Hundal 25:19
There someone who believes they’re good at operations, but they really suck. And now’s an opportunity to talk about it right. But they’re great at something else. And the thought there is, is that we operate in the greater good of the organization. Right? So what is the greater good of the organization? It’s not about any one of what’s it’s about the totality of the team, right? Creating this oneness mindset that we have around, how do we elevate one another together? And of course, it’s difficult, but we enter the danger. It’s like, Hey, we got to have this conversation, because it’s clear that we are exhausting more human energy, then conserving it, because we haven’t had these conversations. And that’s where we say we enter the danger, right? We have the conversation, and not always easy, but we give a safe environment for people to speak openly and freely, and talk about the why right? Why do you feel that I’m not the right person? Or why do you think this person is let’s talk about the unique abilities, and let’s bring out the best in one another. And ultimately, what I’ve seen in my experiences is that someone is suffering, not just the organization, because they’re trying to do the things they’re not great. And we allow them the opportunity to recognize that and take responsibility for what they are great at and put them in that seat, regardless of where it is on the accountability chart.
Jeremy Weisz 26:36
You mentioned, a lot of times these friction points lead to breakthroughs. When you took your business and your family through EOS, where did you find what was an example of a friction point that led to a breakthrough really, initially, when you’re going through that it’s like this is going to be not a pleasant conversation. Right? When I picture, someone’s like, I’m not on the accountability here. That doesn’t say, you say, there was some animosity, I’m sure you’re putting it lightly in some cases. But what was one of those friction points when you were implementing EOS, but that led to something better and greater?
Kevin Hundal 27:17
So I think number one, it’s important to state right being a first generation Indian, right, I’m Indian, it was a cultural thing about age and seniority and authority. I’d say in my family business, I’m the youngest of my two brothers in the business, right. But I was the natural leader. And I’ve always been the natural leader. But again, taking back the cultural aspects of our family in our dynamics, there’s a big part of the status that comes up, right. So it was actually pretty complex when we went through it. And what the breakthrough there was, is that this is about accountability. It’s not about ego and titles. Right? So call whoever you want, right? You can call me the CEO, if you like, that’s great. But what am I accountable for in this business? Right to my brothers, I said the same thing, titles or whatever we have for the external world, which is very important, but what we work on and what we talk about his accountability, when we talk about the accountability chart, what is actually going to allow you to thrive, right in what you bring in the business. And our big breakthrough, there was just, we got in our lanes, right, we got in our lanes, we built our teams, and there was no more and runs where say I would go around, someone on a leadership team had taught to a direct report, or vice versa, and allowing ourselves to have the right lanes in our business allowed us to just kind of flourish and what our unique abilities were but not an easy thing, right? Because as humans, we all have ego and that’s the reality of it. And ego comes into the room in different ways.
Jeremy Weisz 28:54
Mark Winters talks in Rocketfuel about the visionaries and integrators. And that the visionaries, in the entrepreneur world, the visionaries are more common, right? Like you’re a visionary, when you implemented EOS in your business, was there a natural integrator there? Or did you have to bring on someone, either internal or from the outside?
Kevin Hundal 29:19
Yeah, there was. It’s interesting. We use a profiling tool called a culture index, which actually Sumeet shout out to him. He’s a sponsor of EO, Chicago as well. We use that tool for just trying to naturally understand how people are wired. And there’s two typified patterns that make for the greatest integrators. They’re called a technical expert, and the architect and they’re just naturally wired to be great integrators their high fact finders process people they’re fast-paced, they’re self-starters with high follow-through. None of us on our team are close to that right? Like we were my other brothers had a visionary profile. I have a visionary profile my other brothers like an operator who just needed direction and he’s great once he gets it. And a couple other folks on our leadership team are similar. Bringing that data to the conversation Jeremy was great, right? Because it was allowed us to cut through the emotion. So we actually used that profile. And I’ll give another shout-out to my mentor, my YPO mentor, Steve Perlman, he actually brought that tool to me in 2015. And Steve was like, hey, you guys need to use this tool. If you’re not going to do it, I’m going to pay for it. And I was like, all right, I need to do this, because that’s how much he believes in it. And that allowed us to bring a ton of data into the conversation where we were able to say, well, this isn’t really a discussion, we know, like, where we need to sit because of the profiles also. So that allowed us to bring somebody from within the organization up to sit in that box over time.
Jeremy Weisz 30:46
One thing, thanks for sharing that. One thing I want to talk about is you also helped an 18-partner organization. And I want to hear you walk through that a little bit. Because if you can navigate that, I’m sure you can navigate just about anything, because some people may think, well, I have a five-person leadership team or three partners, it’s too complex to unpack this. Yeah. How did you navigate an 18-partner organization?
Kevin Hundal 31:13
Yeah, it was difficult. Number one, it took a little bit of time, and a little bit of grace, that was needed for everyone. But what we found was that there’s the Ownership mindset, which is important, 18 partners, they’re all stakeholders, they’re owners of the business. And we have to respect the ownership mindset. But we also have to understand that the leadership team is about executing the business plan, working together being great leaders and managers, right. And in that conversation, it was really, where there had to be a breakthrough, where it was like, hey, we’re not taking anyone out of the owners box, we’re not saying that 18 of you, you guys are still owners are going to continue to be owners. But do you want to do the technical work in this practice? Or do you want to lead and manage people? Right? How many of you love to be a coach, let’s talk about examples. how great of a coach you are, right? Let’s talk about the resume of how you’re a great coach, and why you should be considered for the position. And then let’s talk about the EQ the emotional intelligence you bring into people when you manage them, and how you manage them, and how do you lift them. And it’s interesting, then in that dialogue, where you’re a breakthrough that, hey, owners, you’re still an owner, but are you really a coach, and a leader and a manager to these folks, it was able to open up the conversation to people saying, hey, I just want to save my life, because I love doing the technical work of the job. And I don’t actually want to do all of this stuff. And that took a little bit of time and energy. But what we found in there is that it allowed those 18 partners to really get in their lane and still have a voice. Right. So one of the things we’ve done in that organization is before we do an EOS off-site session, we take a separate two-hour session and where we get all the information from the 18 partners and what’s on their mind, right, what’s working in the business, what’s not working in the business? What do you think our biggest strategic goals should be the next 90 days? What are the biggest issues you see in the business, and that gave them the voice. And I think that was actually the secret sauce for us in creating a framework and a methodology that allowed them to have a voice in the room without actually having to be the leaders and managers of the organization.
Jeremy Weisz 33:22
It sounds like, Kevin, a lot of times you’re helping people get working on their unique ability so that they’re happier, but also drives the organization forward quicker.
Kevin Hundal 33:37
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And in thinking about the unique ability is I’ll go back to this thought that I’ve shared earlier, which is about EOS is a system to manage human energy. So if you think about it, it’s no different than if I do chores around the house, which I really hate and suck at that I’m usually procrastinating on that stuff, right? And I always tell people, that’s your bottom right quadrant and stuff you don’t like to do and you’re not good at, call it the hate and suck bucket. It’s the stuff that we procrastinate on, it’s still on our mind. We’ve got to get it done. It’s on that to do list, but it’s not getting done. It’s exhausting us, right? So how do we flip that around and put our people, all of them in the stuff that they love to do and they’re great at? Because that’s when you’re maximizing human potential in organizations. I mean, if we could just sit back and imagine you’ve got 10 people in your organization, right? How but if all 10 of them were in the upper two quadrants, which is the stuff they love to do, and they’re great, and they like to do and they’re good at and the way that technology is advanced and the ability to communicate, globally so quickly, you can outsource so many things nowadays, right? You can outsource some of that stuff in the bottom two quadrants to other folks who will do it systematically and let our people really shine in our business.
Jeremy Weisz 34:53
So just talk really quickly break down the buckets again. So how people should be thinking about managing human energy.
Kevin Hundal 35:00
And in EOS, for those who are self-implementing or reading the books, it’s called The Delegate and Elevate Tool. And The Delegate Elevate Tool has four quadrants. If you think about it, the top left quadrant is the stuff that you love to do. And you’re great at the top right is stuff you like to do, and you’re good at the bottom left is stuff that you’re good at, but you don’t like to do, right, you’re smart, you’re good at it, you just don’t like to do it. And the bottoms, right? Is this stuff you don’t like, and you’re not good at. Right? So the thought is, how do we delegate the things in the bottom two quadrants, so we can elevate to the upper two quadrants, right. And I was, actually it’s interesting, I was with a client, yesterday, in agency or in Chicago, and we’re talking about capacity, and they were talking about not having capacity not having time. So I said, hey, let’s do this as is taken notebook. And this is actually my form a Dan Highridge. Shout out to him, because he taught me this technique through The Delegate and Elevate Tool, is use a notebook for seven days, keep it with you. And anytime you’re doing a task for something in the business, just put a bullet write down what you did, and how much time and at the end of the day, clean that up, package it combine things as they need to be put the time of what it took for all those items. Do that over seven days. And then after seven days, get your favorite glass of wine, or scotch or coffee or tea, whatever it is that you like to enjoy in your private time. And now package those things in the four quadrants and see where the things are sitting in. It’s fascinating stuff you hear from people after they actually do that, right and fascinating to see how teams then can bring that data together, and actually then go through the exercise of hey, it’s interesting a client again, yesterday, it’s like there’s certain things that we don’t even know some of our folks are doing. And as you’re talking about, we’re starting to list those things. Right. So what can we just kill and stop doing? What can we outsource that are in those bottom two quadrants, right? What can we delegate in those bottom two quadrants? And then what can we automate? Right? There’s tons of stuff that jokes comes out of that exercise in that tool. That’s fascinating.
Jeremy Weisz 37:10
Love it. Kevin, I have one last question? First of all, just thanks for sharing your expertise, knowledge with everyone. I want to encourage people they can go to eosworldwide.com/kevin-hundal, are there any other places online? We should point people to learn more?
Kevin Hundal 37:28
I think that’d be great start. That’s the Microsoft that has all my information on it. I have helped first mindset so for anyone listening, even if you’re a two-person team, if you got a question or your 200-person, team have a question. I’m gonna help first person as I mentioned, I’d love to help answer any questions anybody has.
Jeremy Weisz 37:48
Awesome. So check that out. Does it easy contact button there to get in touch? My last question, Kevin is mentors. I know we rise on the backs of giants and people. I’d love to hear some of your mentors. You mentioned a few already. And maybe just one thing you learn from them.
Kevin Hundal 38:08
Yeah, it’s interesting. I’ve had several mentors through my entrepreneurial journey and all brought a different type of mindset, I think to the relationship one being an accelerator when I joined John Fairclough. Shout out to John, he owns Resicom Group, amazing entrepreneur has a great story of how he built his organization kind of built it from nothing. And he had a mindset of just being creative and everything you did, right just be looking at the creativity behind the decision. He taught me how to actually bring the words onto paper in a way that made sense to everyone in my organization. And he taught me that skill of how do you communicate effectively through visually showing people things and that was just for me, it was great. At that age, in 2007, was starting my journey in entrepreneurship. And the other is Steve Promet. Who’s my YPO mentor, EO has this YPO EO, mentor-mentee relationship. And what Steve it’s hard. It’s hard. It’s he just opens up his heart. He’s taught me how you bring love into the work that you do in your business, in your journey and your personal life and how having an open heart creates doors and opportunities right I think no differently then today, Jeremy, if we go back to our mutual friend Tom, that’s a relationship that’s based on a lot of heart and emotion and love for one another and add talking to him opened up the door for me to see you. Right. So Steve Promet has taught me the impact you can have by just having an open heart on things and receiving things.
Jeremy Weisz 39:47
Amazing. Everyone check out eosworldwide.com/kevin-hundal. And Kevin, I want to be the first one to thank you. And thanks, everyone.
Kevin Hundal 39:58
