Why Founders Know the Problem but Still Don’t Fix It

Speaker A: Welcome to the Trimetric Roadmap, powered by Business Freedom Advisors, the podcast for business owners who want to grow their business and enjoy their life. Hey, I'm, um, your host, Scott Landis, creator of the Trimetric tracking system and author of Balancing Act. If you're tired of chasing success at the expense of your health, your marriage, or your peace of mind, you're in the right place. Um, on this show, we help you track what really matters. Business, health, life quality, and leadership performance, all in one simple, powerful system. Because when those get out of sync, everything else starts to break down. Our goal here is to help you align it all so you can lead with clarity, scale with purpose, and finally, enjoy the freedom you've been working so hard to create. And if it feels like no one's ever shown you how to pull that off, this podcast might just be the missing link you've been quietly searching for. Now let's dive in to today's episode.

Speaker B: Here we are again at the Trimetric Roadmap Podcast, brought to you by Business Freedom Advisors with the hosts. Uh, me.

Speaker C: Me.

Speaker A: I'm.

Speaker B: I'm Scott Landis. And over there, that's Jeff Jacob. And so we're here to, uh, do another episode. We've been talking about the executive performance system for the last several weeks and unpacking that, what it means. But today we're going to talk about how most founders, you know, they. Most founders already know more truth than they're acting on. They might. They might have an understanding, but there's a difference between truth and acting. So knowing where the business is stuck, kind of know that. Knowing which issues keep repeating, you think about it, you might know which issues are, uh, are there. Uh, might know which conversations are overdue, might know which priorities matter to you the most. And so the problem isn't always awareness. And last week we talked about, you know, the truth piece of the trimetric flywheel. Um, the problem is a lot of times about conversion and how do you convert truth into alignment, and how do you convert alignment into focused action? So in this episode today, Jeff, we're going to go deeper into the trimetric flywheel again. We talked about that last week. So if you missed last week's episode, go listen to that as, uh, as context. Um, but today we're going deeper into the trimetric flywheel, and specifically the part most companies struggle with, even if they're not aware of it, they're struggling with this. The turning insight into what we like to think of as 13 weeks of discipline, execution. And, uh, Jeff, question for you. Like, you know, it seems like most people are aware of some kind of quarterly routine or, like I said, like 13 weeks better, but most people are thinking about a quarterly or annual routine. Like, why is that? And kind of unpack that. Uh, for us,

Speaker C: well, there's a bunch of different cadences of meetings or activity, thought. Thought process that, uh, are really helpful in terms of just the discipline of execution. And the more we're able to actually apply the discipline of the system, the more we're able to just live free within it. Now, there's a bunch of metaphors that we could talk about with that, but. And they apply to, uh, I think every area of life. I mean, even parenting, but. But, uh, if.

Speaker A: The more.

Speaker C: The more boundaries we put on life. I like to have wide boundaries, but firm. And the picture I usually talk about with that is that there might be a lion outside in the backyard. And I have this picture of kind of the wineries and the rolling green hills in Oregon. Um, but there might be a lion out there in the woods.

Speaker B: Like a ferocious lion or the one that.

Speaker C: I don't know any other kind. Yeah, every lion in my head is a ferocious lion. Uh, but if you have the. If you have no boundaries, you're always living in fear of that danger that's out there. But if you have strong boundaries, then you can be completely free within those walls. And because those walls are the protection. And so often, if we apply that, then to this line of thought, so often the big danger, the risk, is that we have all these ideas that never get into execution. They always just get wasted. And so if we put the boundaries of a system, a cadence of implementation or execution, then we're able to really be freed within those boundaries and actually get to the goals that we want to set for ourselves. Um, and we can talk about what those are. But I do that. I practice that in my relationship with my wife and. And especially in business. And for me, it starts with. I started with once a year. It went to twice a year. Now we tried to get to do it every quarter or 13 weeks, but taking one day, two full nights, one day, um, out of my house, to be able to just be alone a lot of times is what I need, because I need thought process. Sometimes it's with my wife or, uh, business partner, uh, whatever it is. We take a, um, day to really go through things, but also to kind of just relax and fill our souls. And so it's a mix of those things we've talked about that in other episodes. So one day to once, uh, every quarter or 13 weeks and then that really feeds. There's a yearly evaluation of things as well. But um, but if that 13 week system then is what feeds the monthly, the weekly, the daily routines or cadences to be able to go from idea to execution or, or the acknowledgement of a problem to then execution of the solution, you know, whatever that idea to execution really means. Uh, there's a system that if we create those boundaries, it gives us freedom to be able to really lead, to really move and to solve those problems.

Speaker B: Great. So having um, boundaries around um, within the system so that you can really be free within those boundaries to just, you know, create great results. So yeah, so we're talking about the trimetric flywheel. It's a concept that, that we use, um, that basically is diagnostic first. What is the truth? So the trimetric uh, flywheel is, is divided into kind of three stages. Define the truth, what's the truth? Um, and again we talked about this last week. We defined all this last week and unpacked it. What's the truth? Then taking that truth, getting into alignment and then taking that alignment into action. And we suggest doing that through a lens of the trimetric being, the trimetric lens being executive performance, business health and life quality. So when you come to uh, diagnostic, um, finding out the truth in your executive performance, how are we doing? What's the real executive performance assessment? Deep dive? How are we doing? What's missing? What do we need? What's not working? What do we need to start doing? What do we need to stop doing in executive performance? You do the same thing in business health. And we have lots of episodes on how and unpack the business health and then life quality. Like how are we doing with uh, life, um, integrating all the things into our life, fun, family, um, relationships, um, recreation, all into life quality, doing assessment. All that is the truth piece. And we also, a few weeks ago we talked about the uh, the two engines of executive performance. One being strategic and intelligence system, um, and the other being executive discipline system. So it's basically an organizational intelligence and an organizational execution. And so that trimetric flywheel helps us and the, the founders and business owners we work with. It helps us to um, integrate those two things and apply this cadence. But again, most people are familiar with a quarterly rock. I mean Stephen Covey has been around, um, the book, um, the philosophy has been around for a long time, um, about having quarterly rocks and focusing on what the most important priorities for the quarter are. And then all the other things fit a week, um, the daily and the moment by moment. But if you focus on the rocks first. So truth though is here's the, here's kind of where I want to go next. Jeff. The truth is only valuable if it becomes movement. So we do need to diagnose things. Diagnostic matters, finding out the truth matters. But insight and clarity all by itself doesn't necessarily change your business, doesn't change your life. So founders often kind of think about the problem. They kind of know what the problem is, maybe even have a gut feeling about the problem. But without that rhythm and that cadence you were talking about, the truth just becomes, you know, noise or conversation. Um, so you definitely have to have the full alignment and action. You know, an alignment turns that truth into shared ownership. We want to make sure the whole leadership team is allowed around it. You were talking about, Jeff. You're. You and your wife get aligned, you and your family get in aligned with your, with your, with your marriage and where, where your household is going. The business gets aligned. So once truth is clear, the next question is, who is aligned around this? Who are the stakeholders? Founder, leadership team, key stakeholders, Advisors, partners, team members. And misalignment is where execution breaks quite a bit. And that, um, you know, a lot of times people are coming to us in that state, but, um, from there, I mean, that's truth, that's alignment, and then there's action. Um, what's your, uh, any, any feedback on that stuff, Jeff?

Speaker C: Yeah, all of what you're talking about is why the two need to be together. Ah, they need to go hand in hand and have one. Both ideas of the truth and the align or the truth and the execution. The alignment and the truth and the alignment and the execution. Alignment has to happen in both. And the truth and the execution are two, um, are two elements that need to be, that need to go together. No matter what system or cadence you have, it doesn't do anything if you don't have something you're executing, you know, if you don't have a truth or a problem you're trying to solve, then it, your cadence isn't going anywhere. But. And with a problem or truth that you don't have a system for, uh, solving or a system for even acknowledging what those truths are, then, uh, you don't know really where you're going. And you're wasting a lot of efforts not maximizing what you can be. And so, uh, both of them really have to go hand in hand. Uh, one of the and that's part of why I love the diagnostics that we do so much, is because, for one, we can acknowledge from an outside perspective what the truth is and then help create a plan that then needs a system for execution that we help them create. But, um, the problem in there was going to say about the problem in there. Um, the problem in there is your gut. As the founder of a company that is now, you know, in this range where you've maxed out what you can be, you're trying to get to that next level, you've kind of hit that ceiling or that roadblock, you're trying to get to the next level. Your gut is the reason why you're there, but it's also trusting. And so trusting your gut has been hugely important, but also at this size, your gut doesn't have all of the information it needs to be able to make the right decisions to move forward. And so being stuck in just trusting your gut, you need to trust your gut for sure, always. That's why everything we do is based on who the founder is. But doing that alone now isn't enough because you don't have the full view of the company anymore. And so being able to acknowledge your blind spots, being able to bring the right people in who have more of the information and be able to bring all of that together to then create the. This a, uh, full acknowledgement of what the truth is or what the problem is, and then be able to have the cadence of solving it. That's why it's a system that's cyclical and both of them going together is hugely important.

Speaker B: Does that answer your question? Yeah, that's good. And, and, you know, I mentioned a little bit ago, misalignment is where execution usually breaks. And, and we had a real life scenario this week. Um, we'll keep it very, uh, um, generic to protect relationships, uh, and people. But, um, you know, it's so common. And we, you know, we've been working with leadership teams, management teams, and executive teams for decades. And when, when we come into, whether it's a consultative process or we are actually becoming their executive team, it's so common to have these, um, these misalignments come up. And this is another reason why having something that is a repeatable process, it's a, it's a flywheel. What is a flywheel? To state the obvious, a flywheel is something that builds momentum. It might be hard to push. Uh, if you think about a gigantic, you know, heavy granite flywheel that you're trying to get Rolling. If it's at. If it's at rest and it's not in motion, it's hard to get it to move. But you said it takes a lot of effort to move the flywheel. But once you get it moving, once you get it rolling, it becomes easier. And once it gets going, it's. It's actually hard to stop it. So that's what we want with our trimetric bi wheel. We want something that's just a part of the cadence and system of your business. Well, uh, so this week, uh, we had a conversation and with the. With, uh, you know, somebody and our team, and we were. We realized that, uh, we had different assumptions. I had assumptions like, we're so looking at the truth alignment action. So we were ready to move into action, but we didn't move into action yet because we still have work to do on the truth and alignment piece. So you don't want to move right into action if you're misaligned. A lot of companies that we come into are just like, chaos is happening because they've got a lot of action. They're like, doing, doing, doing there. They, like, got the traction book and they've been, uh, implementing EOs and they're. They're doing things. They're like, here's our quarterly rock. Let's go. And they're like, executing with good discipline, sheer willpower. But they forgot about the trimetric flywheel. They forgot about truth. Deep dive into diagnostic. What is the truth, even if it's uncomfortable? And then getting alignment on that, even if it's uncomfortable. And that's what I want to highlight with our real life example this week. So what. What we realized is, um, two parties on our team. One, one had, uh, uh, assumptions and expectations about where we were going, and the other side had, uh, assumptions and expectations of where we were going. But those two things weren't the same. And then we. We had a conversation that happened this week that we realized, oh, I see that, that we have different assumptions and, and that can create tension. And, And I'm, I'm saying all this to, to. To make it, um, abundantly clear that, that it's not, you know, it's not. It's actually very healthy to have these discoveries of, like, oh, there's an elephant in the room that we weren't aware of or, oh, I had this assumption. You have this assumption. This is a normal, healthy process in relationships and certainly in. In executive teams. To bring those to the surface and talk about them and say, okay, I see that you had this expectation. I had this expectation. These aren't in alignment. How do we bring these into alignment? If you look at that through the lens of a trimetric flywheel, it creates a healthy team culture. If you don't have the trimetric flywheel, it shows up as things like people are throwing fits and people are, you know, feeling like they were taken advantage of or you know, whatever the, the emotional human things that we all bring, we all have it. Right. Um, but if you have something like trimetric flywheel where, where you really take the time to get the truth, make sure everyone's in alignment and then move into action. That's why it's such a simple three step process. But don't skip the first two steps. You know, action is not the first step, it's the third step. We do that on purpose because we know that we come into chaotic situations all the time and a lot of the times what we bring is clarity to chaos. And all of a sudden that really helps the founder to get freedom. That makes sense, Joe.

Speaker C: Yeah, no, absolutely. And that was a great explanation of that. We're still in the middle of that, in that, uh, working that relationship out. And um, and you, what you said, okay, so action is the third step also in that you can't steer a still ship. Right? You can only steer a ship if it's moving. And uh, you have to be moving. Action being the third step doesn't mean you're just sitting still in the first two steps either. And so like with this person, we were moving forward, um, ah. And we saw that there was an expansion to our offerings that we could bring with this person that would be a great fit for it potentially. And so then we were like, hey, let's go do that. But before we start trying to go sell it or you know, monetizing that situation, we need to make sure that this really is the right fit. And so, and that the fit isn't just between the people. The fit is with what they're bringing and the company and bfa. And so, um, all of that needs to be aligned or a good fit. And so, um, acknowledging the truth that this situation, this might be a good fit that enhances both sides mixed with. Okay, now, so that was the acknowledgment of the truth and then the alignment of being, of working it out together and actually be starting down this process. Um, and we, we were all trying to communicate assumptions, but all of the assumptions didn't come out until we really got down that alignment. Process. And we're still in that process, but we weren't willing to go to the fully living it out until we make sure that this is going to be a healthy right thing for us, for everybody involved. And so that my, I guess my point in there is the alignment is really key, but also you're moving towards the action. It's, you're not just sitting still towards action.

Speaker B: Yeah, that illustrates the flywheel so good. Uh, and we didn't cover that yet. Uh, it's, it's a three step. But then step four is step number one. Right. So you do truth, alignment action. Truth alignment action. That's why it's a flywheel. Because in, in what you just said illustrates that perfectly. We couldn't have gotten to the level of truth that we discovered. You know, we, we started the flywheel in this relationship, you know, a couple months ago. And it took us a couple months before we got to a place where we realized, oh, okay, we are out. We, we need a new truth, um, uh, discovery, a new diagnostic, a new, you know, what's the truth session. And then we need to, uh, see if we're aligned. And we need to work towards alignment before we can go to action again. But it took an iteration of that before, so we already had a truth alignment action session that got us to this truth alignment action session. And you repeat that as often as necessary. We're suggesting that you do it at least every, you know, at least every. Well, I would say to somebody who's really, uh, needing a baby step at least every year, but most of the companies and founders we work with there are really doing some kind of annual, uh, or quarterly, so, you know, at least every quarter. And um, that takes me into, uh, a kind of a.

Speaker C: Can I add something to that?

Speaker B: Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker C: Is that when. While we were doing this. And it's a constant thing too, at a high level, you do it once, once every 13 weeks or so. I started when I started this twice a year at natural points of launching within the organization. But, um, but at a, at a individual level, individual decision level, you do this all the time.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker C: And there's even more parties involved. It wasn't just BFA and this person. And we're still hoping that relationship goes, goes forward. We just have to iron out is this, can this be aligned? And uh, and so we're still working that through with hopes. But, um, in that process. We were just talking about this this morning, Scott, is that you and I had to make sure we were aligned too. And so There was the. We're aligned now. Are we aligned with this person? Okay. Are we aligned in that thought? And, you know, there's, there's different levels to it as well. But, you know, going forward in as much oneness and unity as possible is with the key people. Is really key.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let me get on a soapbox real quick.

Speaker C: Um, I love your soapboxes. Any inappropriate metaphors today?

Speaker B: Oh, I hope not. But you never know what comes out of this mouth. Um, yeah, so just real quick. I mean, uh, I learned it as a 90 day cadence. I feel like 90 days is soft. It's weak. I like 13 weeks because it creates a sense of urgency, at least for me. You know, take it, take it as if it works for you. If it doesn't, you know, 90 days is fine. I just feel like for me, 90 days is soft. I love the, the, um, container of 13 weeks. It's the exact same number of days. Right? So we're, we're talking about semantics, but 13 weeks creates urgency. And then the question becomes, um. And I also like to layer on that, like most people think in, um, there's a book out there called the 12 week year. And this is kind of the one that gave me the light bulb. Like most people. The premise of that book is most people thinking, like, what am I going to accomplish this year in 12 months? And that author, I don't remember the author's name, but, um, the, the idea is like, hey, what if you took, uh, what most people do in 12 months and you, and you like, got so urgent. It's a, it's another like 10x rule idea. It's just another concept of that. But what if you took what most people do in 12 months and you did in 12 weeks, and that idea just got me excited. So that's why, like 13 container. But from there the question becomes, okay, what are the top three to five? Um, you know, Stephen Covey calls them quarterly rocks. Um, because we're in this 13 week container, we call them three to five critical strategic implementations that we should do. So, and that idea came out of like just the idea of a chaotic situation, a triage situation. I always visualize, you know, I've watched too many ER shows or, you know, shows that have hospitals, you know, people coming in on a gurney out of the, out from the streets. They got in from the ambulance, uh, and they're coming in and it's like there's a triage situation. So what are the top three to five critical strategic things that need to be implemented so that this thing goes to the next level. Um, and, and we, and we focus on those typically one at a time over the next 13 weeks. But when you have 13 weeks now, you're looking at a weekly cadence and you know, that turns the csi, the critical Strategic Implementation Plan CSI into traction. So the CSI stay in front of the team. Every week we're looking at them and then we say, okay, are we on track or off track? That's where the issues come out of those csis and to dos come out of the issues. We look at the issues. What are, what's keeping us off track here? Why are we off track? That question creates the issues. We solve those issues by, by creating to do's for the week. So that weekly process, um, at an executive team level, uh, takes, you know, big priorities into weekly movement. So all of that is sort of how that trimetric flywheel takes truth alignment into the action piece. And one more point, Jeff. Execution is not necessarily doing more. This is one of the things that we like in my journey as a, you know, in business. Going from just an entrepreneur, business owner to, to really having to be an executive within many companies. The, the different, the big differentiator from going from like a manager to an executive or a leader. What's the difference between leadership and management? One of the most important things is narrowing the focus. What's the one or maybe two or maybe three most important things that we need to focus on? Not the whole list. What's the top priorities and what, whatever those few priorities are just like uh, laser focus on that. That's what leadership does. And then, you know, you have a team that helps execute that. Um, so I'll stop there, Jeff, and let you have final word before we have to wrap today.

Speaker C: Well, I think one of the things, you know, this leads into that, leads into that is really good. The one missing aspect of that is the levers and the idea. And that's one of the powerful things about the boulder. So we have these m, uh every 13 week boulders. And the idea with that is if you try to just push the boulder, which is what most people are doing, it's just going up, hey, everybody run at this boulder and let's push it. The boulder being that csi, um, everybody, let's go try to move this. That is wasting a lot of effort. And yes, it has worked for you and yes it does work, but it's a lot of manpower to do that. And the idea is leveraging certain levers to be able to move that rock, which makes it happen a lot easier, that boulder. And so if, you know, if you get just. It's the physics metaphor and you take a lever and you pull on that lever at the end of it, there's more leverage to be able to actually move the rock. And so that's why we have levers that we acknowledge, uh, within the csi. And so the, with the CSI is, or the big boulders. And then we acknowledge the truth of the levers that are going to make, that we think are going to make the biggest difference. And those become the metrics, the things we have metrics for. And so if, you know, the old school cold calling method is which Scott and I became good friends in a job like that, where what the. What's the first thing you track is you track. If you want sales, what is the metric you track? How many dials are you. Are you making a week or a day? And how many people are answering, how many people you talk to? How many people get a yes. You know, those are the metrics which are the levers that you pull to end up in sales. You know, it's. And so that CSI being sales, in that case, whatever the csis are, we have to acknowledge the levers and then that's what creates the metrics as well. And so we're tracking those and if the metrics are going well, but the boulder isn't moving, then we have to acknowledge a different, a different metric or a different lever. Maybe we don't have the lever in the right spot, but it creates the. That system naturally creates the acknowledgment of truth, of whether this is working or whether we need to shift gears.

Speaker B: Nice. Yeah. So if you've been listening to the podcast and following us here, um, hopefully you're at least picking up that we've got an entire system that helps you execute and become a founder of Freedom. To go from, uh, you know, having a little chaos or a little stuckness in your business to becoming a founder of freedom. We've got a process that's robust and it works and it delivers. Um, you know, and if you're just listening because you want to go it alone, either way, I want you to take action. Right. Because know, at the end of the day, founders don't just need more truth, they need a system that converts truth into action. So truth creates clarity, alignment creates commitment, action creates momentum. And when that action is focused inside something like a 13 week cadence, then your business can finally start to move from knowing what the problem is to actually solving it. So the first step to do is we've got a new, uh, a new Business Freedom Diagnostic that's even a simpler step because, you know, we've talked about the Trimetric quiz and we, you know, we know that that can take a little time. If you want a simple five minute step that's going to bring more clarity, help you get action and momentum, go to getfreedomscore.com and take the business freedom diagnostic. So it's simply getfreedomscore.com go there, get that diagnostic, you'll see the results immediately. This is the big innovation, Jeff. We've always had people take a quiz and get the results later. Now they can actually get the results immediately. And uh, so get freedomscore.com that's your action step today. And then also keep coming back to Trimetric Roadmap podcast. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.

Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Trimetric Roadmap, powered by Business Freedom Advisors. I've been your host, Scott Landis. If you're growing a business but something still feels off, you're not alone. That's exactly why we created the Trimetric Quiz. It's not a personality test. It's a powerful diagnostic tool that shows you where you're in alignment and where things may be silently slipping off. Track across your business life and leadership. It only takes a few minutes and the clarity you'll gain is a game changer. Go to trimetricquiz.com to take the quiz now before the cost of staying stuck gets any higher. Until next time, stay focused, stay aligned and keep building a business that truly supports your life.