Why Every Nonprofit Leader Should Know About EOS
Eighteen months ago, if you’d asked me what an L10 meeting was, I would’ve said something like: “Sounds great, but who has 90 minutes to talk about issues every week?” My brain, like many entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders I know, was running at full speed, bursting with ideas, stuck in the weeds, and focused on just making it work.
Enter EOS — the Entrepreneurial Operating System. I’ll be honest: it wasn’t love at first sight. In fact, I needed a gentle (and persistent) nudge from our co-founder and fellow visionary Jessica Munday to even consider it. And even when we started working with our implementor Nikki Rach, I still wasn’t convinced. “Clarity breaks?” How can I take a break when my mind never shuts off?
But fast forward 18 months, and I can say this with total conviction: EOS has been transformational for Cloud Nine Nonprofit Advisors. It’s changed the way we operate, the way we lead, the way we grow — and more than anything, it’s helped us focus on what matters most: impact.
EOS is to business what a healthy lifestyle is to your body
You wouldn’t run a marathon without stretching, staying hydrated, or fueling your body. And yet, so many nonprofits try to scale their impact without giving the same attention to the internal “health” of the organization. A healthy operating system — like EOS — nurtures the inside of your business so that the outside can fully thrive.
For us, that meant getting intentional about roles and accountability. It meant naming issues out loud and solving them at the root. It meant creating a scorecard so we could measure what mattered. It meant getting out of reactive mode and into proactive leadership. It gave our team — and me — structure, focus, and room to grow.
The magic for nonprofits
We work with dozens of nonprofit leaders every year who are brilliant, mission-driven, and exhausted. They’re juggling fundraising goals, board expectations, program outcomes, community partnerships, and the daily fires that never seem to stop. EOS gives them a framework to step back, breathe, and lead with clarity.
Recently, I had the chance to attend the EOS Worldwide Conference in Washington, DC. It was three days of learning alongside entrepreneurs and leaders from all over the world — and I walked away reminded just how powerful this system is, especially for mission-based organizations.
Here are a few of my favorite takeaways from the event:
Fear is OK
Everyone on the team is a leader
Calm doesn’t mean there’s no risk
You don’t need absolute clarity to move forward
Setting the goal is the easy part
Going backwards is still progress (THIS!!!)
Get comfortable being uncomfortable
Don’t let the AI bots take over your personal brand 🙃
These aren’t just business truths — they’re human truths. And they apply whether you’re running a tech startup, leading a foundation, or growing a grassroots nonprofit. EOS doesn’t make your work easier — it makes it clearer. It’s about aligning your team, simplifying your focus, and actually making room for growth.
So... what is EOS, really?
At its core, EOS is a simple set of tools and disciplines designed to help leaders run better organizations. It’s not just theory — it’s practical, tangible stuff you can apply right away. Tools like:
The Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO)
The People Analyzer
The Accountability Chart
L10 Meetings
The Issues Solving Track (IDS)
Rocks (90-day goals)
Clarity Breaks
And here’s a fun fact: Every new team member at Cloud Nine is given a copy of What the Heck is EOS? on their first day. Because we believe that alignment and ownership are everyone’s job — not just leadership’s.
Want to learn more? If you’re curious about what EOS could do for your nonprofit or business, I can’t recommend it enough. Start here:
And if you ever want to talk about what it looks like in real time — in all its messy, beautiful, game-changing glory — my inbox is open. Let’s build healthy, impactful organizations together.