Posted on September 16th, 2025.

Vision statements don’t fail for lack of ambition. They fail because leaders keep talking about the future while calendars, meetings, and priorities stay chained to the present.

It’s why EOS calls the Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO) the “heartbeat” of the business. A strong heartbeat drives life through the system. But here’s the part most leadership teams miss: filling in the boxes doesn’t move the company forward. Leadership behavior does.

I’ve watched teams proudly roll out their shiny new V/TO, share the slides in an all-hands, and then… nothing. A few weeks later, the same meetings run the same way. Projects pile up like they always do. People shrug when the next “big idea” rolls through because they’ve seen this movie before.

The gap isn’t in the framework. It’s in the follow-through.

Why EOS Gets You Halfway There

EOS gives you incredible clarity tools:

• The V/TO for long-term vision and core values.
• Rocks for quarterly priorities that everyone can see.
• Level 10 Meetings for consistent cadence and accountability.

But here’s the trap: leaders treat EOS as a planning exercise instead of a leadership practice. The documents reside in binders, yet real decisions continue to break the very priorities they set.

Vision does not die from lack of dreaming but from leadership habits that never change.

Three Shifts Leaders Need to Make

1. Use Rocks as a signal, not a checklist.
   When leaders stop doing projects that no longer align with the quarter’s Rocks, people take notice. EOS works when “yes” and “no” carry the same weight. A fundamental shift means choosing fewer things—and visibly killing what no longer fits.
2. Align the leadership table before anyone else.
   EOS calls this the “leadership team first” principle for a reason. When your top team says one thing in meetings and chases other priorities in the hallway, the rest of the company hears noise, not vision. Alignment at the top comes before rollout, not after.
3. Let the calendar tell the story.
   If Rocks matter, they need to dominate the leadership calendar—weekly Level 10 reviews, strategic blocks for real thinking time, monthly check-ins on progress. Where leaders spend time proves what matters more than any all-hands slide.

Why This Matters Now

The hardest part of leadership isn’t finding new ideas. It’s clearing the clutter that keeps you stuck. EOS gives you the system. But the system only works when leaders send a consistent signal through choices, focus, and time.

Teams crave certainty. They want to know which initiatives will be counted this quarter. They want to trust that priorities aren’t shifting with every new email or offhand comment.

When leadership behavior matches the story on the slide, execution finally takes off.

Call to Action

If you want help turning your EOS vision into visible leadership habits, reply “Map It”and I’ll send you the Strategic Focus Worksheet.

It’s the fastest way I know to move from “talking about vision” to “building a company that actually lives it.”

JP Van Steerteghem

Call me at +1-617-548-3863

or email me at [email protected]

or schedule some time https://calendly.com/jvansteerteghem