You bought one more system and watched it fade. The Method Trap is about why.
271 pages in the current manuscript and forty-nine chapters, each with one idea, one story and one assignment. First edition in preparation.
Before the next how-to, read this.
The Method Trap: Mission, Market, and Method: The Order That Reduces Uncertainty in Business. First edition in preparation.
Why the last system faded
You bought a system for the business. It had a method for marketing, or hiring, or cash, or leadership. You ran it well for a few weeks, and the old week came back. You have done this more than once, and each time it cost money and a little confidence.
The system was probably fine. In my experience, something like ninety percent of what is offered to a business owner is method: marketing, hiring, operations, finance, software. Each expert starts at how to run it, and the quiet assumption is that if you build it, they will come. I have not seen anyone measure that ninety percent, so treat it as my estimate.
Here is a number that is measured. The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy reports that only about half of new employer businesses are still alive after five years, and about a third after ten. The two numbers answer different questions, and neither proves the other. Together they raise one worth asking: am I buying a better way to do something before I know it is the right thing to do?
I call this the Method Trap. In my experience, most stalls that look like method problems, whether cash flow, hiring or marketing, are Mission or Market problems with the wrong label. The symptom shows up in the method, so the owner buys a method fix. The book is the way out, in the order that works.
Who it is for, and who it is not for
It is for the established owner. You built a business that operates, you have tried most of the options you know about, and you suspect there is an angle you have not given enough consideration. It is for the professional who has been handed a growth problem inside an organization. It is for anyone who heard me speak or sat in one of my rooms and wants to understand how I think at length.
You do not need to want a bigger company. You do need to be willing to slow down and look at what you want and what the people around you want.
It is not a quick fix. Each chapter hands you a move you can make today, and the business changes as you layer the chapters and apply each one to your own life.
The five parts
Part I. The Trap and the Lens
Chapters 1 to 5. Name the trap, then take the lens that breaks it: one order, three phases, each the foundation for the next.
Part II. Mission: Willing
Chapters 6 to 20. The person comes before the business. A current state, a desired state you chose, a North Star and a Master Plan.
Part III. Market: Able
Chapters 21 to 34. Where the money lands, the gap you can close, the Money Question and a written Business Case. Nothing gets built here.
Part IV. Method: Ready
Chapters 35 to 46. Test before you build, draw the workflow before you hire, then plug in the roster and run it like a project.
Part V. The Loop
Chapters 47 to 49. The money finds its next job, you get rated for the next aircraft, and the system starts again.
Three ways in by situation
You can enter by the problem you are in. Chapters marked Core are on the Core Route.
The business depends on you
You are the talent, the business stops when you stop, and you want out of the starring role.
Chapter 17, Move Around the Stadium. Chapter 39, The Two Scoreboards (Core). Chapter 42, Star Player to Owner (Core). Chapter 43, Build the Team on Will: WAR. Chapter 45, Leaders vs Managers.
You cannot say where it is headed
You are busy and improving things, and the heading is unclear. You need to read the conditions and pick a destination.
Chapter 11, True North, Magnetic North (Core). Chapter 13, Rebrand: Become the Pilot. Chapter 21, Read the Water First (Core). Chapter 48, Type Rated. Chapter 49, the final chapter on the Loop (Core).
You came out of a large system
You ran a function, a division or a region, and the plane feels heavier now that it is yours.
Chapter 6, Whose Dream Are You Living? (Core). Chapter 7, The Chair You Came From. Chapter 19, Keep It Real at the Top. Chapter 22, Follow the Money (Core). Chapter 40, Run It Like a Project Manager (Core).
Two routes through the book
The Core Route is twenty-two chapters that take you from the symptom to a tested decision: 1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 14, 16, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 30, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42, 47 and 49. These hold the core of the system, the abbreviated version.
The Deeper Route is the other twenty-seven chapters, with the dialogue and the stories that surround the core. Read the Core Route first if you have a fire this quarter. Read all forty-nine if you want the whole system.
The whole system on two pages
The last two pages of the book hold the whole system in order: Mission, Market, Method and the Loop, with the chapter behind each line. Photograph it, pin it up, and re-run it every quarter. The EEThinkers get the same two pages as a printable page.
The Jump-In Map
Find the line that sounds like your week and go straight to that chapter.
- You can’t find good people → Chapter 43, Build the Team on Will: WAR
- You come home from workshops drowning in ideas → Chapter 46, Mindset, Skillset, Toolset
- You need money → Chapter 29, Capital Is a Tool, Not a Trophy
- Buyers are not showing up → Chapter 21, Read the Water First
- You are working eighty hours a week because you are the talent → Chapter 42, Star Player to Owner
- You don’t know what you want anymore → Chapter 6, Whose Dream Are You Living?
- The business runs you, instead of the other way around → Chapter 40, Run It Like a Project Manager
- Growth stalled after year three → Chapter 39, The Two Scoreboards
- You’re about to raise capital → Chapter 30, The Business Case
- You’re thinking of selling → Chapter 47, Get Rich, Then Get Wealthy
- You left the corporate machine and the plane feels heavier than it should → Chapter 42, Star Player to Owner
- You are the talent, and the business stops when you stop → Chapter 47, Get Rich, Then Get Wealthy
- Dad gave you the title and kept the authority → Chapter 45, Leaders vs Managers
- You run a nonprofit or a church, and growth is not about revenue → Chapter 24, The Three Gaps
- You and your spouse are building this together → Chapter 14, The Life Plan
- Others in your industry see the business one way, and it is not your way → Chapter 7, The Chair You Came From
Three lines from inside it
They didn’t need more advice. They needed to get it done.
From the Introduction.
You don’t grow loans. You grow customers.
From Chapter 29.
No right or wrong, just outcomes and consequences.
From the Introduction, and the last line of the two-page system.
Also in the series
The Executive Entrepreneur walks the same order for the professional coming out of a large system, the order that turns a corporate career into ownership. It is in preparation. A healthcare edition for the clinician who is the product is in development. All of them run on one system, and you can read any of them first.
Get the two pages now, and hear when the book is out
Join the EEThinkers and the two-page summary of the system comes to you today. You will hear from us once when the first edition is out, and the weekly letter carries one idea from the book while you wait. Connect with me on LinkedIn too, where most of the conversation with readers happens. If you would rather work through the order with me across the table, the assessment at Start Here is the second step.
Be first when the first edition is out
We will email you once when the first edition is out. The two-page summary of the system comes to you today.
How long is The Method Trap?
The current manuscript runs 271 pages in forty-nine chapters. Each chapter carries one idea, one story and one assignment. If you have a fire this quarter, the Core Route is twenty-two of those chapters. The other twenty-seven build the same system to full depth.
When will the book be available?
The first edition is in preparation, and there is no release date to give yet. Join the EEThinkers and you will hear from us once when it is out. The weekly letter carries one idea from the book while you wait.
Do I have to read it in order?
No. You can start at any chapter. The Jump-In Map on this page routes sixteen common problems to the chapter that deals with them. The order of the system matters: Mission, then Market, then Method. The order you read the chapters in does not.
Who is the book for?
It is written for the established owner who has tried the courses, coaches and systems and suspects there is another angle. It also fits a professional handed a growth problem inside an organization. It takes time to work through, so it suits people willing to slow down and look at what they want.
One idea a week. Five minutes. No noise.
A market read, a story, a line from the book, and one question to carry into the week. When you are ready for a read on your own business or career, the assessment is the next step.