Steve Morris: When the Operating System That Built Your Success Stops Working

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Steve Morris, an executive coach and certified implementer who helps high agency leaders navigate a specific moment when the operating system that built their success stops working for the life they want. Now we’re going to talk more about that. Steve brings an unusual mix of engineering level clarity and human transformation work, blending Eo’s structure with identity, presence, and mental fitness so leaders can make cleaner decisions, stop overfunctioning and build businesses that don’t run on pressure. He started his career designing multimillion dollar racing yachts. Sounds like fun. We may have to talk about that too. And coach high performance teams then moved into a program management, uh, supporting US Navy ship launches before building his coaching practice today. He guides founders and executives through what he calls internal OS design for the next chapter. Steve, welcome to the show.

Steve Morris: Thank you very much for having me, Trisha. It’s great to be here.

Trisha Stetzel: It’s been a long time coming. As we were talking about before we got here. So I’m very excited to have you on today and to dig into, uh, some of the amazing work that you’re doing. So, Steve, tell us a little bit more about you.

Steve Morris: Thank you very much. Yeah. So, um, as you said in the introduction, I started my career designing multi-million dollar racing yachts. And as you can probably start telling from my accent as I start talking, I’m not from around these parts originally. Um, I came from New Zealand and that’s where I grew up, and, um, studied engineering in college. But my very first job right out of college was working on a professional sailing team and helping get that team and the boat ready to go race around the world. So I went from studying engineering to being in the gym at 6:00 in the morning, you know, trying to get fit enough and strong enough to be able to participate with this team. But it really formed a really solid initial foundation for my entire career that has now sort of come full circle as I as I am a leadership, um, and executive coach because I saw an experienced, you know, viscerally day in and day out, you know, what it took to build a really great team and a group of people coming together, bonding together. Um, and then ultimately, you know, some of those people succeeding on the team and others, you know, not. Ultimately, you know, gelling and being part of the team, but really sort of seeing, you know, a group of individuals coming together to go and do something, you know, incredibly lofty, like trying to win a round the world yacht race. Um. So, you know, it was a foundation for my career. And I’ve, um, for the last 35 years have been just obsessed and passionate about what it takes to build a really great team and look at the individuals, the developing, the individuals that are a part of that team.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. I love how you’ve been able to take that past experience of being on a team. I’ll call it a sporting team because it is definitely a sport. You had to get in the gym, and you also had to learn how to work with others to meet the goal, and the goal would be to win or place or finish, right? Whatever that goal happens to be. And I love how you’ve been able to take that and use that experience in the work that you’re doing today. So, um, I in your bio, I talked a little bit about the high agency leaders at the crossroads. So what is that crossroads actually look like in real life? And what are the signals that you see when you’re working with people?

Steve Morris: So I work with a lot of very successful, um, yes, we call them high agency, high achieving founders, business owners. And, um, a few years ago, I really started seeing that, um, as I work with them, with EOS, the entrepreneurial operating system, and we’re building a really strong leadership team and a strong business, um, when that work is successful, oftentimes the the founder. The owner gets to a place where they’re kind of like, okay, business is running great. Everything’s, you know, the trains are all running on time. Um, and but they sort of get to some point where they’re kind of like, well, what now? Um, what’s my purpose in life now? Now that the business is running great? Um, you know, typically, of course, if it has been successful, the business is generating some cash and some, um, wealth for that original founder. And so they’ve now got possibilities and things that they can do, um, with their life. And I really find that, you know, when you’ve been working with your head down, running like heck in the business day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out, year in and year out. You know, that’s been an all consuming part of their lives. And then when the chaos is now tamped down and things are running in a more orderly fashion. It’s kind of like now we’ve got some time to think. And then that’s when the thoughts start coming up, like, okay, well what now? Um, and so I really sort of find that that’s, uh, quite a common thing that I’ve seen and have now, you know, more recently in the last few years, stepped into, um, having more conversations and coaching those leaders, um, really sort of double clicking on what is your purpose in life? What’s the larger purpose in life now that the business is running great, what do you want to do next? You know what lights your fire?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. That’s fantastic. I would like to visit this topic of EOS because I know that you use that as, uh, a set of tools that you’re using with your clients. So I, a lot of people who are listening, I’m sure are familiar or have heard EOS, but they may not know exactly what it is or what it does as a system inside of these businesses. Can you tell us a little more?

Steve Morris: Absolutely. So EOS stands for the entrepreneurial operating system, right? So it’s just a simple set of practical tools that really help a business owner and a leadership team get three things that we call vision, traction, and healthy. So vision from the aspect of figuring out like what is the vision for the business, where are we going and how are we going to get there? Oftentimes when I start off working with a team and I’ve got six people around the table, I’ve got six different ideas about where the business should be going long term. Um, so we get everybody on the same page about a single unified vision. Um, and then the traction is getting more disciplined and accountable, like becoming masters of execution and bringing that vision to reality. Because sometimes people can talk about a vision and can have, you know, the dreams, but they remain dreams if we don’t actually do something about it. Right. If we don’t have the discipline and the accountability to take action in the business. And then the third component, which is almost my favorite part, is what we call healthy, which is coming together as a healthy, functional, cohesive leadership team because sometimes they’re not. Um, and this really brings me, as I was saying before, back to sort of full circle in terms of, well, you know, I worked on some really amazing teams, and I know what it feels like when the team comes together and people have got each other’s backs and they’re there for each other.

Steve Morris: Uh, unfortunately, I also worked on some teams that didn’t make it, you know, despite having the resources. That we needed and didn’t gel together as a team. So I experienced the the heartache, the pain, the suffering, the disappointment of years of effort and millions of dollars. You know, ultimately not being successful because the people couldn’t come together in the way that was useful and healthy. So that’s what I love coming and helping my clients, you know, figure out what their vision is, get on the same page with that, put the actions in place in the business, but ultimately have some more fun work together as a healthy, functional, cohesive leadership team and take the business to where they want to go. So that’s what EOS is, and it’s a journey. Um, I don’t have a magic wand. There’s no silver bullets. Um, it’s a journey that we go on because we’re all human. And, um, um, you know, development, things like this take time. We put the reps in. Things work. Things don’t work. We, you know, tweak things, change things. Ultimately, my goal is an EOS implementers to help this system, this this set of tools work for the company, right, for the leadership team, uh, ultimately for the greater good of that business.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And these, these teams, when you get them on all on the same page, rowing in the same direction for the same goal, they’re they have greatness right now, but they’re always evolving. So one of the things that you talk about is the operating system. And I don’t mean the software, but the operating system that built their success today. Isn’t always the same as they move into the future. So talk to me a little bit about this evolution of where you begin and how you get to the end. And the evolution of that team as they move through the process?

Steve Morris: Yes. No, it’s it’s a very important work. And I, um, as you’re sort of talking about, it’s an evolution. And of course, when we when we start, people tend to sort of be very, sort of heads down with sort of more of a reactionary team, um, playing whack a mole. Um, but then as we mature, right, and we put the systems in place and we grow as a team, um, you know, we’re creating openings for people to kind of step up into and elevate, uh, in the business. And that’s when I really start seeing, um, it’s, you know, the inner journey of the leader becomes more important. I mean, it always is important, but it sort of comes more to the forefront. And so one of the places where I start with this, um, on an individual level, is what I’ll call the I’ll be happy when syndrome because a lot of us, and we’re all human, right? Uh, it can very easily crop up in our language, which comes from our thinking of I’ll be happy when I’ll be happy when I get the new client. I’ll be happy when I get, you know, the new pay raise. I’ll be happy when I get the new job. Um, because then I’ll have some more money, and then I’ll be able to buy a car, and then I’ll be able to go for a drive in the mountains.

Steve Morris: Right? I mean, you’ve heard it, right? I mean, it’s like I’ll be happy when some future event happens. Um, but ultimately, what we sort of really find, of course, with that is, you know, and the research is all there. If you give somebody a pay raise, it lasts for about 2 or 3 weeks. The bump, you know, the, the good feelings from that. And then people sort of come back to, um, you know, the status quo. So, um, Um, ultimately what we see is it’s much more effective if, if we can sort of backtrack from those things that we want to have in life, um, to, to some more meaningful, um, things. And so, you know, the things that we have in life ultimately come from the actions that we take in the world. Um, I, you know, and a lot of people believe in manifesting, but I, you know, to me, being an engineer, I’m a little more pragmatic and practical about manifesting. I don’t believe you can sit on the couch eating Doritos and manifest $1 million, right? If you get up off the couch, if you get up out of bed in the morning and, you know, put your running shoes on and go get after it and do the things that you need to do in the world. Then you set yourself up, you know, for the best chances of manifesting ultimately what you want.

Steve Morris: So I have a, as I say, a very sort of pragmatic view of manifesting. But then ultimately, you know, when we start sort of peeling the layers of the onion, like, why do we do the things we do? Like what makes us, you know, if we’re in sales, like, you know, picking up the phone and calling prospects or if we’re an operations manager having those difficult conversations. Um, you know, some people are easier to sort of lean into those things. Other people shy away from them. Right? And so the actions that we take in the world come from, um, our thinking. Right. And ultimately, what I really see is, um, the most effective thing is to, to really sort of see that. Well, you’re, you’re thinking and the way you sort of see the world comes from your identity, your being, like who you are and who you see yourself ultimately inside. Um, and so when we can create. At that identity level, they are much more effective at being able to change thinking or to create more useful ways of thinking. Um, I’ll put it that way. You know, I think when you the alarm goes off in the morning and, you know, you get out of bed in the morning, you know, without intentional sort of, uh, practices in place. You know, if you pick up your phone and start scrolling the emails or, you know, heaven forbid, getting on the news and on TikTok and the headlines.

Steve Morris: Well, then your mind goes down that path, right? And there’s there’s just nothing good on, you know, scrolling the headlines because they are there to get your cortisol level up and to be in a place of fear and all of this sort of stuff. So, so what I’m really talking about and about. What I’d like to work on with my clients is, you know, like instead of just blindly going off down some path every morning when you get up that the, you know, the headlines and the media people would like you to go down. How about choosing a more effective path? How about putting some practices in place, um, for you to start your day, you know, off on the right foot and just get off that old rocky path and to get on a more effective path as a person, you know, so that you show up, uh, you know, for yourself, your family, your friends, and also in the workplace more effectively, um, in terms of how you see the world, how you see other people. And that ultimately will affect the things that you do and say to people and ultimately, you know, affect the results that you get in life. So that’s the whole big thing that I end up seeing.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, thank you for sharing that. It’s so important to be thinking about the balance between the work that we do and the human that we are. And I want to come back and revisit that right after you give us your contact information, because I suspect that there are some folks listening that already want to connect with you or learn more about the work that you’re doing. Steve.

Steve Morris: Yeah. Thank you. So the best place to get a hold of me is through my website. So that’s Steve Morris coaching. Com um, there’s contact forms there, my email and other contact details. So keep it simple Steve Morris coaching. Com is a great place to start.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay fantastic. Thank you very much for that. And as you guys know put that in the show notes. So if you’re sitting in front of your computer, uh, watching us on video or even listening to the audio, there will be the links for pointing and clicking so that you can get in touch with Steve right away at Steve Morris calm, uh, before we jump back into the deep stuff, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you about your experience with Navy ship launches. You have to tell me just a little bit more about what you were doing on that project.

Steve Morris: Sure. Yeah. Well, it’s a very interesting part of my career. So, you know, I spent many years designing, you know, sailing boats, um, multi-million dollar racing yachts. Um, and as I was talking about, I was on some really great teams. I was on some teams that didn’t make it. So I was sort of had that curiosity about how do we build a really great team, you know, back at those earlier stages in my career. So I had this opportunity to, um, move out of the sailboat design world and get into supporting the US Navy. Um, and ended up, um, on some teams where we were supporting the whole huge government acquisition system when it takes, you know, the government says, hey, well, the Navy says we need a new ship. Um, it takes a lot of time, a lot of people, a lot of effort, and of course, a lot of money to be able to get that ship into the water and really being able to navigate, you know, to bring a team together, to be able to navigate that whole process, um, is incredibly complex. So, um, I worked on a couple of different projects, but, um, principally doing program management. So bringing together a team, um, I was working as a contractor and supporting, um, my government customers and, you know, just figuring out what do we need to get done, you know, this year, what do we need to get done this month? What do we need to get done today? Right, to be able to move the project forward. And it was a huge education for me just in terms of stakeholder management, you know, like team management at much larger scales. I mean, ultimately some of these programs are, you know, billion dollar programs. So, um, re being in the middle of all of that and just seeing, you know, how do we lead and manage these groups, how do we continue to to drive the accountability? Um, an environment that, you know, is very challenging. Um, there’s a lot of let’s say there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen getting a Navy ship in the water.

Trisha Stetzel: I can imagine I’m sure many of my listeners are probably cringing right now saying, you you actually decided to do that. That was not your service calling. Well, thank you for being a part of the US Navy and helping us launch. Um, I don’t know how many ships you were engaged with, but it sounds like an amazing, uh, fun experience for you, so I’d love to come back, see if it’s okay, and revisit this idea of, um, business and leadership, whatever position people are in and the human aspect of that. Uh, what I pick up from you is, although you’re an engineer and very system forward, you also have a lot of soft skills and ways that you can talk with people about both. All of the parts of them being human, running a business, being a leader, but also the things that maybe pulling on them. I’m going to call it work life integration. I know some people don’t like that. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. But I’m getting my point across here. Right where. Yeah, it it is all encompassing. So how do you help your clients balance this idea of being a leader in a probably in a high pressure position, and also finding time to do the things that are important to them as a human being.

Steve Morris: Yeah. No, it’s a it is a complex thing to, to get that integration. And I love the fact that you use that word, um, integration because of course, the work life balance, you know, people normally talk about balance, right? And yeah, um, I think, you know, for me, balance, uh, I feel like when somebody is saying, hey, I want more work life balance. Um, they often have what I’ll call like a static view of, I’m going to get all of the work things over here, and I’m going to get all of my life stuff over here, and it’s all going to like just, you know, hang out together. And it doesn’t work like that. In my experience with my clients and even for myself, when you’re in a small business and you’re wearing a lot of hats and things change. And so it’s a great point to say it’s about integration because frankly, these days they they are not separate things. You know, we have these phones beside us. We’re always on people are messaging at all hours of the day and night. So how do we, you know, get this integration.

Steve Morris: And this is where I feel like initially one of the sort of core ideas for me is, um, it’s not a static thing. It’s a dynamic thing. In other words, we’re going to sort of shift as we go through phases. Sometimes we just might have to roll up the sleeves and dive into the business and put the hours in. Right. And, and, um, some of the, you know, other things we’d like to do in life aren’t getting done this week, right? Because we’ve got to dive into the business. But my, Um. My hope and my aim in working with my clients is if we can create the right sort of systems, then that will allow the space and the time when it’s appropriate to, you know, go off in the other direction and to take a week off and to around here in Colorado, go up to the mountains and, um, you know, or go sailing or something where you are. I mean, but it’s about being able to create that the systems that can then allow things to dynamically shift backwards and forwards. Um, it’s not just a static thing.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that. I, um, heard through the grapevine that you’ve got a really neat project happening on your farm in Colorado. Can you tell me more about it?

Steve Morris: Yes, absolutely. So, you know, sort of it all links back to this, taking this more sort of holistic view of, you know, being a leader and, you know, showing up effectively as a person. Right. Um, for your family, for your friends and for your business. And so, um, you know, I’ve been a great believer in, um, maintaining good health. I follow a doctor, Peter Attia, who’s just in Austin, not too far away from you, uh, who talks about this concept called the Centenarian Olympics. And it’s imagining, um, you know, it’s a thought experiment, but imagine, you know, you’re 100 years old. And what would you like to do when you’re 100? Would you like to still be able to put your bag in the overhead bin on the airplane as you’re going off on, on a vacation? Would you like to be able to bend down and pick up your great, great great grandchild as they come barreling into your shins? Right. Um, all of these things. And then with that vision, right. As we’re talking about visions in business, you can have your own personal vision. What would that look like? You can sort of backtrack. I mean, we are going to decline through age. No one’s managed to to beat that yet. Um, but his point is you can affect, uh, you can influence the starting point of, you know, of the decline, and you can influence the rate of decline through exercise, nutrition, um, a lot of other aspects.

Steve Morris: So we’ve been very passionate about that. And of course, it’s all linked together with the work I do with my clients as well, because, um, you know, people who are being very successful and growing their businesses, as we talked about at the beginning, might have some other desires and dreams in their life. And if you’re not maintaining, you know, the more holistic good health. I don’t just mean physical but also mental emotional health. Um, you’re not going to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Like what? You know, it’s it’s not an uncommon thing that people can work their whole lives and get to retirement, and then they’re not in a great shape to enjoy their retirement. Right. So long story. But ultimately, um, we moved here to Colorado, um, over four years ago now, and ended up buying a farm and learning how to grow our own food, um, healthy food and, um, and then also starting to sort of create a space where I’m going to bring my clients in and really be able to help them, like, get reconnected with themselves and each other, like to create a little bit of, you know, silence in many ways to allow, you know, those deeper connections to, to resurface, um, and to create a space where people can kind of get really grounded about what’s going on in their lives and their business.

Steve Morris: And it’s a beautiful property we have here. We’re so lucky. I’m very grateful for it. There’s a 14,000 foot mountain up keeping watch over us. We’ve got lakes and cornfields all around. But as I’m saying, it’s about creating a space to sort of allow, um, some of these more important things to come up for people to really look at, you know, how am I doing with my life? Am I really in alignment? Do I know where I’m going? Um, because as I talked about at the beginning of the podcast, if you’ve been head down running like heck for the last ten years building this business, you know, have you also been able to keep sight on what are the other, you know, meaningful and important and purposeful things that you want to do? And as I’m rediscovered, have discovered with my clients. That’s sometimes been lost because we’ve just been head down running like heck in the business. So the farm is really about creating some spaces, some experiences. We want to start doing some retreats this year, feeding people healthy food where they can see where you know the ground that it came from. Um, and but also, as I’m saying, sort of creating the space for more deeper and meaningful, um, reflections and thoughts and experiences to come up.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow, this is amazing. And I see a trip to Colorado in my future. Please. What an amazing. Thank you. What an amazing project. And you’ll have to keep us posted on, uh, any events that you may have in Q and let me know. And I’m happy to get that information out as well. Okay, so we’re at the back end of our conversation. I know the time went by so very fast. Would you tell us one more time how to reach you? Steve, if people are interested in having a call with you or simply connecting.

Steve Morris: Yeah. Thanks. Trisha. It’s I’m I’m always happy to have a conversation with people so they can reach out through Steve Morris coaching comm. You know, if this what we’re talking about resonates in terms of, you know, you’re at a crossroads, a turning point, wondering what’s next. Maybe you’ve lost a little bit of connection to what was deep and meaningful to you and looking for, you know, what’s coming next. Um, I’m always just happy to have a conversation and see what arises out of that.

Trisha Stetzel: Beautiful. Thank you for your time today. This has been wonderful, and I really appreciate you coming on the show and being a part of getting great Information, and even just the feel good part of knowing that there are people out there looking at leadership holistically. Thank you.

Steve Morris: Well, thank you for everything you’re doing, Trisha, and thank you for having me on the podcast.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you Steve. All right, you guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that Steve and I had today, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, veteran or Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate and review the show. Of course, it helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your leadership, your business and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.