Your V/TO is Just the Beginning: The 7 Questions That Complete Your Strategy

The EOS Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO) is elegantly simple. Two pages. Eight sections. Your entire vision and strategy distilled to the essentials.

That simplicity is the genius. For entrepreneurs drowning in complexity, the V/TO provides clarity. Core values, focus, 10-year target, marketing strategy, 3-year picture, 1-year plan, quarterly rocks, issues list. Everything on two pages.

But here's the question successful EOS companies eventually ask: "We've got our V/TO dialed in. Now what? How do we go deeper?"

The V/TO is the executive summary. Some companies need the full business plan behind it.

The V/TO's Design Trade-off

The V/TO makes a deliberate trade-off: breadth over depth. It touches all the important strategic areas but doesn't go deep on any of them.

A typical V/TO Marketing Strategy section looks like this:

Target Market: SMB SaaS companies, 50-200 employees Three Uniques: Context engineering, AI memory, unified workspace Proven Process: Discovery → Design → Deploy → Optimize

This is useful. It creates focus. Everyone knows the target and differentiators.

But notice what it doesn't address:

• How do we actually acquire these customers?
• What's our customer journey look like?
• What experience do we promise and deliver?
• How do we retain and grow customers?
• What's our detailed competitive positioning?

The V/TO says "who we target." It doesn't say "how we win them and keep them."

The Strategic Depth Gap

Different strategic elements need different levels of detail:

The V/TO works brilliantly for alignment. It's less useful for execution planning, competitive strategy, or experience design.

When Two Pages Aren't Enough

As companies mature, they face strategic questions the V/TO doesn't answer:

• "We have our target market defined. But we're losing to competitors on specific deals - what's our positioning strategy?"
• "We know our 3-year picture. But how do we validate our business model will actually get us there?"
• "We've defined core values. But our culture isn't what we want - how do we design the employee experience?"
• "We have rocks for customer success. But we don't have a holistic customer experience strategy."

These are leadership questions that need leadership frameworks.

What Strategic Architecture Actually Is

The Resolute 7 Questions of Leadership provide the strategic depth that sits behind the V/TO. While the V/TO is the executive summary, the 7 Questions are the full business plan.

The fundamental shift:

• V/TO: "What's our vision and what are we doing this year?"
• 7 Questions: "Why do we exist, how do we create value, and how do we design experiences that win?"

Think of it this way: The V/TO is like the table of contents for your strategy. The 7 Questions are the chapters - the full content that gives the headlines meaning and executability.

The 7 Questions of Leadership: Completing Your V/TO

The 7 Questions don't replace your V/TO - they expand each element with the depth needed for strategic execution.

Question 1: Vision - "What is our vision, driven by our purpose, and what's holding us back?"

V/TO gives you: Core Values, Core Focus, 10-Year Target

7 Questions adds:

• Vision Canvas: Detailed vision architecture with timeline
• Clarity Statement: Communicable vision narrative
• Current Reality Assessment: What's actually holding you back
• Values to Behaviors: How values translate to daily actions

Example expansion:

• V/TO: "10-Year Target: $100M revenue"
• 7 Questions: Why $100M? What does the company look like at that scale? What capabilities must we build? What's currently preventing us from getting there faster?

Question 2: Market - "What is our market, who is our ideal customer, what do they value?"

V/TO gives you: Target Market, Three Uniques

7 Questions adds:

• Market Canvas: Full market analysis and segmentation
• Ideal Customer Canvas: Detailed customer persona with pains, gains, jobs-to-be-done
• Competitive Positioning: How you win against specific alternatives
• Market Clarity Statement: Your positioning narrative

Example expansion:

• V/TO: "Target Market: SMB SaaS, 50-200 employees"
• 7 Questions: What triggers them to look for a solution? Who's the buyer vs. user? What alternatives do they consider? Why do they choose us (or not)?

Question 3: Strategy - "What is our strategy, where is our growth focused, and how do we position?"

V/TO gives you: Three Uniques, Proven Process

7 Questions adds:

• Strategy Canvas: Detailed strategic choices and trade-offs
• Growth Focus: Specific growth levers and priorities
• Positioning Strategy: How you're different from each competitor
• Strategy Clarity Statement: Your competitive narrative

Example expansion:

• V/TO: "Three Uniques: Context engineering, AI memory, unified workspace"
• 7 Questions: How does each unique translate to customer value? How defensible are they? What do we deliberately NOT do? How do we win against [Specific Competitor]?

Question 4: Business Model - "What is our business model, is it creating value, what metrics show this?"

V/TO gives you: 3-Year Picture, 1-Year Plan (revenue targets)

7 Questions adds:

• Business Model Canvas: Full value creation analysis
• Unit Economics: CAC, LTV, payback, margins by segment
• Revenue Model Validation: Is the model actually working?
• Business Model Clarity Statement: How you make money sustainably

Example expansion:

• V/TO: "3-Year Picture: $25M revenue, 40% gross margin"
• 7 Questions: What's the LTV:CAC ratio? Which segments are profitable? Is the model scalable? What happens if churn increases 2%?

Question 5: Customer Experience - "What is our customer's experience, how do we acquire, retain, grow them?"

V/TO gives you: Marketing Strategy (briefly), Proven Process

7 Questions adds:

• CX Journey Canvas: Full customer journey mapping
• CX Promise Canvas: What experience you commit to deliver
• Acquisition Strategy: How you win new customers
• Retention Strategy: How you keep and grow customers

Example expansion:

• V/TO: "Proven Process: Discovery → Design → Deploy → Optimize"
• 7 Questions: What does the customer experience at each stage? What do we promise? How do we measure experience quality? Where are customers dropping off?

Question 6: Employee Experience - "What is our employee's experience, how do we acquire, retain, grow talent?"

V/TO gives you: Core Values, People (in Accountability Chart)

7 Questions adds:

• EX Journey Canvas: Full employee journey from hire to alumni
• EX Promise Canvas: What experience you commit to employees
• Culture Design: How you deliberately shape culture
• Role Architecture: Complete role definitions with outcomes

Example expansion:

• V/TO: "Core Values: Growth, Integrity, Excellence"
• 7 Questions: What behaviors demonstrate each value? What's the employee experience at each lifecycle stage? Why do people join? Why do they stay? Why do they leave?

Question 7: Strategic Priorities - "What are the 1-3 things that, if delivered, will shift the needle most?"

V/TO gives you: Quarterly Rocks, 1-Year Plan

7 Questions adds:

• Priority Architecture: How priorities connect to strategy
• Resource Allocation: Where to invest for maximum impact
• Trade-off Decisions: What you're choosing NOT to do
• Goal Cascade: How priorities flow through the organization

Example expansion:

• V/TO: "Q1 Rocks: Launch product, hire 3 sales reps, implement CRM"
• 7 Questions: Which of these has highest strategic leverage? What's the opportunity cost of each? How do department priorities support these? What are we NOT doing to make room?

Practical Integration: Keep Your V/TO, Add Depth Where Needed

You don't need to answer all 7 Questions in detail for every planning cycle. Use them strategically.

When to Go Deep

Vision (Q1): When you're unclear on direction or purpose Market (Q2): When you're losing deals or unclear on positioning Strategy (Q3): When facing new competition or market shift Business Model (Q4): When growth is stalling or unit economics declining Customer Experience (Q5): When churn is high or NPS is dropping Employee Experience (Q6): When culture is drifting or talent is leaving Priorities (Q7): Every quarter, to pressure-test your Rocks

The Annual Rhythm

Annually: Review all 7 Questions at strategic planning (2-3 days) Quarterly: Deep-dive on 1-2 Questions most relevant to current challenges Weekly: V/TO reference for tactical decisions (L10 context)

The V/TO stays your operational reference. The 7 Questions become your strategic toolkit.

The Complete Picture: EOS + Resolute Integration

The V/TO and 7 Questions work together:

EOS gives you the executive summary. Resolute gives you the full business plan.

Why This Matters for EOS Companies

If you're running EOS successfully, your V/TO is probably solid. You've got alignment. You've got focus. That's significant.

Resolute builds on that foundation. The 7 Questions don't replace your V/TO - they provide the strategic depth for companies ready for more:

• EOS gives you V/TO vision → Resolute adds Vision Canvas with path forward
• EOS gives you Target Market → Resolute adds Market + Ideal Customer Canvases
• EOS gives you 3-Year Picture → Resolute adds Business Model validation
• EOS gives you Core Values → Resolute adds EX Journey and Culture Design

The next evolution is from "strategic alignment" to "strategic depth." That's where Resolute's 7 Questions and Waymaker's strategic tools complete the picture.

We're not replacing EOS. We're standing on its shoulders.

Read more about talent architecture beyond GWC and discover how Resolute Leadership builds capacity at every level.

Experience Strategic Depth with Waymaker

Ready to add the 7 Questions depth to your V/TO? Waymaker provides the AI-powered technology to develop, document, and execute comprehensive strategy.

Commander: Your Strategy Home

Waymaker Commander gives you all seven Canvas types in one connected workspace. Your Vision Canvas connects to your Market Canvas connects to your Goal Canvas. Strategy flows to execution without gaps.

OneAI: Strategic Intelligence

Ask questions like "Does our customer experience support our business model?" or "How do our EX investments compare to competitors?" - and get instant, context-aware analysis. OneAI helps you see connections across strategic elements.

Strategy-Execution Connection

The 7 Questions live in Commander alongside your Rocks and Scorecard. When you're debating a Rock in your L10, you can check: Does this support our strategic priorities? Is it aligned with our customer experience strategy?

Keep your V/TO. Add strategic depth. That's how you go from alignment to competitive advantage.

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The V/TO is your executive summary. The 7 Questions are your full business plan. Use both. Learn more about Vision and Purpose and explore Market and Customer strategy.

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EOS® and Entrepreneurial Operating System® are registered trademarks of EOS Worldwide, LLC. Waymaker is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by EOS Worldwide.