Episode 41: IMAGEN Brands and EOS: Getting a Grip and Gaining Traction — commonsku Blog

$70 million. 600 employees. And a lot of change. Lori Kates has overseen many transitions since she first began as controller of Vitronic in 1996. Honored as ASI’s Supplier Woman of Distinction in 2013 and listed on The Counselor Power 50 for the past 4-years, she continues to pursue excellent operating principles intended to propel Top 40 supplier IMAGEN Brands to even greater heights. In this episode, we talk about a vital new initiative for IMAGEN Brands called EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System defined by Gino Wickman in his book Traction. We discuss:

• Defining problems (the 5x rule) versus solving symptoms
• Vital lessons she would pass on to a budding entrepreneur
• The importance of culture in the early phase of a business
• Becoming businesses of value vs. commodity sellers