Who from our company should sit in the room during our initial EOS sessions, and how do we decide whether to include borderline leaders?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your session room should consist strictly of your true core leadership team, typically three to seven people who run the major functions of the business: sales, marketing, operations, finance, and the Integrator and Visionary seats.

Founders often struggle with borderline leaders. These are employees who hold legacy executive titles, long tenures, or family ties, but do not actually carry functional strategic weight or possess leadership capabilities.

Inviting people out of politeness or fear of hurting feelings is a costly operational mistake. Sessions require total vulnerability, high candor, and rapid decision-making. Having someone in the room who cannot think strategically or who defends legacy territory stifles open debate and slows down the entire business.

Use this simple guideline to decide whether a borderline leader belongs in the room:

- Would you enthusiastically rehire this person into their current leadership role today knowing everything you now know about their performance and capacity?
- Can this person engage in fierce, productive debate about company direction without taking organizational critiques as personal attacks?
- If this seat were vacant, would you search the open market for a candidate with their exact skill profile to lead that functional department?

If the answer to those questions is no, do not bring them into the foundational sessions. We will clarify your real organizational structure on the Accountability Chart first. You can always cascade tools to department leaders later once the core team is solid.