Jon Wilhoit, EOS Worldwide, on Vision, Traction, and Team Health for Growing Businesses (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 936)
On this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray welcomes Jon Wilhoit, Professional EOS Implementer at EOS Worldwide. Jon helps business owners and leadership teams strengthen their companies through the Entrepreneurial Operating System, focusing on three core areas: vision, traction, and health.
Jon brings over 30 years of business experience, including running his own executive search firm for 12 years. He shares how many business owners work hard to grow their companies but find themselves stuck, working 70-hour weeks instead of the freedom they envisioned. Jon explains how EOS provides tools and disciplines that help leadership teams step back from working in the business to working on the business. He discusses the importance of 90-day priorities, holding teams accountable through measurables, and addressing people issues that create friction. Jon also explains how implementing EOS can increase company valuation by demonstrating operational excellence to potential buyers.
In the interview, Jon mentioned “A Hidden Valuation Gap.” an article he wrote for Middle Market Growth, the official publication of the Association for Corporate Growth. The article examines how business owners can command higher valuations by pointing to well-run operations rather than relying solely on financial metrics.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is produced by John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, and is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
- EOS helps business owners transition from working in the business to working on it by aligning leadership teams on vision, executing with traction through 90-day priorities and weekly measurables, and improving team health.
- Over 80% of companies working with EOS face significant people issues, either employees who don’t fit company culture or who lack the skills to deliver in their roles.
- Jon emphasizes that EOS is simple but not easy, requiring real discipline and commitment to the process rather than trying to augment it with other systems.
- Implementing EOS can create a hidden valuation advantage when selling a business by demonstrating a repeatable, scalable operation that can run without the owner.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:20 John Ray introduces the show and guest Jon Wilhoit
01:51 Jon Wilhoit introduces EOS Worldwide and his work with business owners
02:28 Jon’s background in executive search and entrepreneurial software companies
04:02 The difference between starting a business and developing a company
06:49 Shifting mindset from working in the business to working on the business
08:22 Why EOS differs from traditional consulting and coaching
09:50 The three core components: vision, traction, and health
13:28 Traction: executing with discipline and accountability through 90-day priorities
16:51 Team health and addressing people issues in organizations
19:25 Why EOS is simple but not easy, and the importance of trusting the process
22:24 Jon’s article “A Hidden Valuation Gap” and how EOS increases business value
24:24 How to know when you’re ready for EOS
28:14 Success story: architectural firm growing from 15 to 120 people in four years
30:17 How to connect with Jon Wilhoit
Jon Wilhoit, Professional EOS Implementer
Jon Wilhoit has spent over 30 years helping companies elevate their performance. After receiving an undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and MBA from the University of Texas, Jon helped small and medium sized Atlanta businesses with their commercial insurance programs. From there, he leveraged his insurance experience in providing technical staffing solutions to insurance industry carriers and agencies (EDS, Syntel, and IMR Global).
Jon felt the call to entrepreneurship and launched Elite Sales Professionals, an executive search firm that pulled all his experiences together. The firm specialized in high-level sales and sales management positions for boutique insurance software companies. He ran the company for 12 years before being recruiting himself to join the sales performance management solution leader CallidusCloud.
Jon was an award-winning leader with Callidus until they were acquired by SAP. Jon worked with three other entrepreneurial software companies (Medallia, Varicent, Uptempo) providing sales and marketing solutions to enterprise and mid-market clients.
Ultimately the desire to run his own show came roaring back and Jon started the company acquisition process. After evaluating many different opportunities, Jon had multiple people suggest he explore EOS, indicating his business, finance, insurance, staffing, and management experience could be valuable to SMB business owners. Once Jon dove into the EOS evaluation, the decision was easy and he launched his EOS practice.
EOS Worldwide
EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) provides growth-oriented businesses with a complete system (think operating model, not software) for orchestrating and harmonizing all the moving parts of their business, enabling them to get better at three things: Vision, Traction, and Health.
Getting better at Vision means aligning the entire leadership team on where the company is going and how it’s going to get there. Even small deviations in leadership alignment mean teams working on divergent priorities or even in conflict with each other.
Traction means executing on the Vision with discipline and accountability so that everyone is pulling their weight and delivering the dependable performance all team members expect.
Improved Health means teams are more open, honest, and collaborative. Company culture thrives and friction, stress, and poor communication evaporate.
As a Professional EOS Implementer, Jon uses a proven process, now deployed in over 30,000 companies across the U.S., to guide clients through the EOS journey. Jon acts as Facilitator, Teacher, and Coach to help clients’ leadership teams install EOS tools customized for their unique company and then press those tools down into their organizations to elevate performance from top to bottom.
Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio
Renasant Bank has humble roots, having started in 1904 as a $100,000 bank located in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown into one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions, boasting over $26 billion in assets and more than 280 offices offering banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services throughout the region. All of Renasant’s success stems from the commitment of each banker to invest in the communities they serve, which in turn helps them better understand the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, their banking professionals understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.
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Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio
Whether you’re a law firm, medical practice, or manufacturer, there’s one headline you don’t want to make: “Local Business Pays Thousands in Ransom After Cyberattack.” That’s where Beyond Computer Solutions comes in. They help organizations like yours stay out of the news and in business with managed IT and cybersecurity services designed for industries where compliance and reputation matter most.
Whether they serve as your complete IT department or simply support your internal team, they are well-versed in HIPAA, secure document access, written security policies, and other essential aspects that ensure your safety and well-being. Best of all, it starts with a complimentary security assessment.
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About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray
With over 900 episodes and having featured over 1,400 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in our community like no one else. We are the undisputed “Voice of Business” in North Fulton!
The show invites a diverse range of business, non-profit, and community leaders to share their significant contributions to their respective markets, communities, and professions. There is no discrimination based on company size, and there is never any “pay to play.” North Fulton Business Radio supports and celebrates businesses by sharing positive stories that traditional media ignore. Some media lean left. Some media lean right. We lean business.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. John and the team at North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, produce the show, which is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
The studio is located at 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.
You can find the entire archive of shows by following this link. The show is accessible on all major podcast apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.
John Ray also operates his own business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
John is the author of the five-star-rated book The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices, praised by readers for its practical insights on raising confidence, value, and prices.
