[EP9] A Finale of EOS Resources

In this final episode of the season, Jill Young and Sue Hawkes share some of their favorite resources for becoming a stronger issue solver and a more effective leader. They highlight the richness of the Issues book itself, including the frequently asked questions, references, checklists, templates, and tools woven throughout the appendix and supporting materials.

Jill also points listeners to her Courage Advantage series, especially the relevance of courage in EOS work: the courage to be disciplined, the courage to experiment, and the courage to lighten up. Together, she and Sue emphasize that great leadership is not just about using the tools, but about becoming more courageous, more curious, and more willing to think and act differently.

The conversation also spotlights Sue’s Decoder Deck, a set of 80 questions designed to create trust when truth is present but unspoken. Jill explains why question cards are so powerful: they do the heavy lifting by opening the brain and prompting better conversation.

Sue then introduces the Issues Gym, a space designed to help teams build their IDS muscle by practicing identification and discussion more effectively. The episode also mentions additional EOS resources like The Rollout Book, Rocket Fuel, Great Boss, and other workshops and master classes that help leaders and teams embody the system more fully.

The season closes with a reminder that the goal is not just to solve issues faster, but to remove friction, fast-track growth, and ignite greatness in people and organizations.

Get your copy of the Issues Book here!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Coming to you live, it's Root Issue Radio with your hosts, expert EOS implementers, and co-authors of the Issues book, Jill Young and Sue Hawks.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

We're on a mission to help you remove friction, fast-track growth, and ignite your greatness. Dial in and let's dig deep.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

I was just seeing if Sue would do her party, but we didn't sing it. That was great. We communicate with our eyes, Sue.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

I love you.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

In this episode, we're gonna unpack some of uh mine and Sue's. Is that right, grammar?

SPEAKER_01 0:56

I can't say Sue and I either win.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Um my my favorite resources and Sue's favorite resources, we're gonna unpack some of our favorite resources to help you be an issue-solving, um, flowing, badass, um, amazing person. Genius. Team and genius. How about that? Just that little thing. Just that little thing. Uh the first thing we want to unpack is just how rich with resources the issues book is itself. Uh there's there's resources throughout it, and there's resources at the end. Um, Sue, do you want to talk about a few of your favorites?

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Well, in the book itself, I just want you to know there's frequently asked questions. And we resourced these, and there's 25 of those. So don't feel like you have to know all the answers. They're in there. We also have a lot of references in the book to the 10 commandments of solving issues, which Gina wrote a while ago, as well as the book Decide, because a lot of this is synthesized in these tools and it's referenced throughout as well as explained throughout. We also have a checklist that you can ask before adding anything to the issues list so that you get clear in how to get about it. Um, and then we we unpack compartmentalizing and the issues solving track, and we go into the animals that we use and issues, something about the visionary and integrator, radical candor, speed of trust, offline meeting track, personal issue solving session, mental models. Like there's a lot here checklists, templates, tools. That's in the book. That's just in the book. And then, Jill, what else have we got for you?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Um, and and you know, most of what Sue said is in the appendix. So, I mean, if you're like me, I read through a book. Uh, you guys, I used to skip when I was um a young adult, late teens, I would skip the prologue and epilogue because I thought they didn't have anything to do with the book. And yet, little did I know, like that's where all of the plot is in. So please read the appendix, read the appendix. And then I also want to highlight um something that we put together, and Sue had a lot to do with this. It's on page 35, and it's the culture alignment matrix. And this really just talks about um and and gives some just really spicy descriptive words to teams that have um high trust and high conflict, but also teams who have low trust and low conflict. And there's some some really great words in there that will help you describe where you are as a team. And listen, no matter where you are as a team, you can always get better, even just one percent better. So I also wanted to highlight that. That's on page 35 in the book.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Sweet. And for additional reading, Jill Young has a series, the advantage series, because she's an optimist, that girl. But there are so many great tools for all your leaders, not just the leadership team. These are for everyone. Do you want to talk about your books, Jill? Because they are and I might add quick but chewy reads. They make you think.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Ooh, well, thank you. In fact, the last the last of the series is called the thinking advantage, but I really want to highlight the courage advantage first. I think that one is probably the most relevant for the audience who's listening to Root Issues Radio. As I uh had passed my 500th session, uh, 500 EOS sessions, one of um, it was actually a prospect asked me. He said, Jill, I know why EOS works really well. I know why it works really well. Everybody's running on it. I know why it works really well. He said, tell me about when it doesn't work. And it blew my mind. So I decided to spend a year and really dig in and ask myself that question because I am an eternal optimist. It's like, well, I want to see the other side of this. And that book is the result of all that research. And it really is all about courage. And we've talked about courage a lot in this in this podcast series. And I came up with three. The first one was the courage to be disciplined, the second one was the courage to experiment, I think possibilities. And the third one was the courage to just lighten up. We don't need to take ourselves so seriously. So hopefully, Francis. Hopefully, the courage advantage, which its original title was in courage. And the publisher said that was a horrible title. So the courage advantage is what it is now. Um, hopefully that gives you some encouragement.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I think it's a genius title, and I think both both work. Now, if you're more of a hands-on person and you're not necessarily looking for that book or you've already gotten it for your team, we've got some other stuff. I have these things we've referenced in one of our sessions called the decoder deck, which is 80 questions in a box. You can set them in your session room, use them for clarity breaks, give them to your team members, and they're used to create trust when truth is present but unspoken. So hopefully it's an unlocking tool to put in your session and be interactive with two-on-two or entire teams. Um, and that's a quick igniter, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Another can I just make a little comment about your cards? Yes. I am a big fan of cards, especially question cards, because all these cards do is they just sprinkle in the question and you let the question do the heavy lifting. You just put a card in front of someone with a question, their brains open up. So this, you know, I hope you buy the issues book. I hope you buy lots of read lots of books, watch videos, download audibles. I mean, I'm a big reader, but I'm also a big fan of just these bite-sized, simple question cards. They're so, so powerful and simple and not a lot of rules. If you say, How do I use these, Sue? She'll go, however, you want to use them.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

We have three simple steps similar to your three takeaways. One is pick the category because they are by the components or reflection or igniters. Ask the question as written, don't soften it or defend it. Notice what happens when you read it. And then pause and listen is step three. So it's everything you just said.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

See what shows up. Thank you, Sue. And I know, Sue, that you have you have a few um other offerings to help people really build their IDS issue solving muscle too. How about those?

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah. So sometimes, sometimes with our leadership teams, we don't teach how to IDS and really build the muscles with our teams the same way you've had the opportunity with an implementer, which we hope you do. We encourage you to do. We hope this podcast is additive because it's going to be added into everything I communicate. But we have this thing called the Issues Gym. It's launching in the spring of 2026. So if you're hearing it before that, no it's coming. If you're hearing this after that, you can jump in at any time, but anyone can be in there. It can be team members, it can be leadership team, and it is really getting in and being part of an IDS session with the spirit of helping people get better at identifying so they can take back the discuss and solve to their team because we can't solve it in the issues, gym. We can build the muscle to identify better, which is really what that's for, because you have to solve it at home, friends. You might get some insights, you might be able to diagnose what's going on, you might be able to even get a little bit of the treatment, but you've got to go home to cure it. You've got to get back and solve it. And so we just want to help you be better. And these are opportunities online for people to practice because you know what? If you don't get to the gym, you're not building muscles.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Oh, Sue, that's so brilliant that it's really designed to help people identify because that's usually the hardest part is just admitting, seeing, noticing what the real issue is. Yes, ma'am. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

We also have some friends launching book.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I love the rollout book. This is how to roll out EOS. So again, so much of what Sue and I have shared here in this podcast is teaching everyone to IDS, rolling out all the whole system, not just the tools or piecemealing the tools, but running, uh, rolling out the whole system. So Marissa Smith and Beth Fahy have released a book called The Rollout Book. Um, that I think that's the it's even on the website, rolloutbook.com. You can find it there or anywhere. Books are sold.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Um, and Mark Winters has a visionary book that's out as well as rocket fuel. So, again, if you're visionary, along with the master classes or great boss workshops, as we've been talking about, I hope you have taken away from Jill and my discussion that there are infinite ways to get your arms around this. And if you'd rather be human to human, there are master classes, there are ways for you to interact and build muscles in particular segments. And great boss is one of those things to lead and manage more effectively, resulting in accountability. Great boss. The book is great, the workshops are amazing. They're in areas near you. Expert implementers are having them all the time, including online. Get the help you need because the better you get at all of this, where it becomes embodied, you start to have more courage because your confidence is higher.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

That's right. So we hope you've enjoyed this last episode here of Root Issue Radio. And hopefully, all of this has helped you just design a life where you can solve your issues fast and permanently. And remember, issues also means you can discover ideas and opportunities and create your greatest life ever. And that's all.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

We want to help you remove friction, fast track your growth, and ignite your greatness. And if Jill and I can help you in any way, shape, or form, or you love this, please share it and please share it abundantly. And if you like it a lot, let us know. If you have questions, let us know. We'd love to do more. We're happy to help. Sue, this was a grand adventure. Thank you for the pleasure and the invitation. You are one of the best. Thank you so much for all you bring and all the joy you have for all the things that matter so much.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

I couldn't have asked for a better road trip friend, Sue Hawks.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Awesome. No flats.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

That's right. No flats. And with that, uh, we hope you enjoyed Root Issue Radio.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Thank you all. Thanks for dialing in with us today to download the tools and order your own copy of issues. Go wherever you get books or visit eosworldwide.com.