The Control Trap: Why Smart Leaders Struggle with EOS Rollout
Last month, we talked about how weak LMA prevents the five foundational EOS tools from cascading beyond the leadership team. This month, we're digging deeper into the elephant in the room—the specific leadership behavior that undermines LMA and prevents successful EOS rollout.
It's not about the tools. It's about letting go.
The Uncomfortable Truth
In our upcoming book on EOS rollout (co-authored with Marisa Smith, releasing early 2026), we spend considerable time on a concept that makes leadership teams uncomfortable: letting go of the vine.
Many leaders struggle with EOS rollout because they harbor a deep fear that if they aren't personally involved in every detail, their department—or entire company—will be driven straight into a ditch.
Sound familiar?
This fear, often amplified by ego and compounded by trust issues, creates a fundamental problem: true accountability can only exist when people have the freedom to own their results.
If you're micromanaging every decision and hovering over every task, you're not creating accountability—you're creating dependency.
Why Control Kills Rollout
Here's the reality: You simply cannot scale EOS through control and micromanagement.
It's like trying to conduct an orchestra by playing every instrument yourself—exhausting, ineffective, and ultimately impossible as the organization grows.
What separates thriving organizations from struggling ones? Great leaders understand their job isn't to control everything—it's to create more leaders throughout the organization.
Your next-level leaders aren't just implementers of your vision. They're the multipliers who will exponentially expand EOS throughout your organization.
The Fundamental Shift
The magic happens when you stop asking "How do I make sure this gets done right?" and start asking "How do I develop leaders who can make this happen better than I could?"
That fundamental shift in mindset transforms not just your rollout, but your entire approach to leadership and organizational development.
This doesn't mean abandoning accountability or accepting mediocre results. It means building systems and developing people so that high performance becomes sustainable and scalable rather than dependent on your direct involvement.
Three Questions to Ask Yourself
Are you holding on too tightly out of fear? What specific areas are you controlling that prevent people from taking true ownership?
Does accountability spread naturally in your organization, or does it depend entirely on leadership enforcement?
Are there unresolved GWC issues (people who don't Get it, Want it, or have the Capacity for their roles) that you haven't addressed?
What We're Building
In our book (coming early 2026), Marisa Smith and I dive deep into the practical realities of rolling out EOS beyond the leadership team. We address the questions Professional EOS Implementers and internal champions face every day:
How do you build accountability without creating fear?
What does "letting go of the vine" actually look like in practice?
How do you develop leaders who can multiply your vision?
When should you introduce advanced tools like LMA and process documentation?
We're not just sharing theory. We're sharing battle-tested approaches from years of guiding organizations through successful EOS rollouts—including the mistakes to avoid and the timing that actually works.
The organizations that succeed with EOS long-term don't just implement tools—they transform how their leaders lead.
