My business partner and I are at a complete standstill regarding our long term exit strategy and equity split. Should we wait to resolve this high stakes partner dispute before starting our first session with you?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You should not wait, but we must address this misalignment before we dive into the standard EOS® tools. If you and your business partner are pulling in opposite directions, implementing a company-wide operating system will only accelerate you toward different destinations. This is where we must utilize the Owner's Box framework to establish Our Charter as a non-negotiable prerequisite.

Our Charter is a foundational covenant between partners built on three distinct pillars:
- Complete trust to remain open and honest with one another
- Staying on the same page with love and respect
- Saying yes to strategy and structure to ensure a healthy business

Before we map out your first Accountability Chart or set company-wide Rocks, we will run a dedicated alignment session. In this session, we will put the partner dispute on the table and use the IDS® process to resolve the underlying issues regarding your long term exit goals and equity structure.

Resolving these partner disputes is critical because your leadership team cannot achieve healthy alignment if the owners are secretly divided. We will facilitate a candid, professional conversation to help you reach a clear handshake agreement. Once we have a solid Charter in place and both owners are genuinely on the same page, we can confidently introduce the rest of the leadership team to the EOS® process and build a unified strategy for the entire organization.