If you’re familiar with business operating systems like Scaling Up, EOS, Pinnacle, or Summit OS, you’ve heard about Rocks. They go back to Stephen Covey’s “rocks-pebbles-sand” analogy, showing how important initiatives should always trump urgent tasks in your business (and life).
Less is more.
I believe Rocks are about carving out time to work on your business, not just in it, as Michael Gerber advised. Let me explain.
Setting Rocks That Move the Needle
At first glance, setting Rocks seems easy: List everything you want or should do to push your business forward, then pick what moves the needle most. Say “no” to the “nice-to-haves” and protect the few must-haves for your business.
Sounds simple, right? But how do you distinguish between them? And how do you know if something is truly a must-have?
Subjectivity in Prioritizing Rocks
Here’s the problem: “nice-to-have” can be subjective. What’s a must-have for Marketing might be a nice-to-have for Operations, and vice versa. Plus, projects that offer future benefits often feel less urgent than current needs.
EOS uses a method called “keep, kill, or combine.” You review your list of potential Rocks, eliminate those that aren’t crucial, and combine similar ones. You keep trimming until you have a manageable list—these are your Rocks.
Challenges with This Approach
Here’s where this method can get tricky:
- CEO dominance: The CEO might dominate the process, which affects the quality of Rocks and team buy-in.
- Rabbit holes: In teams with a passive leader, the discussion often goes off track, killing clarity and productivity.
- Boulders vs. Rocks: Merging too many tasks can create “Boulders” instead of Rocks, leaving them incomplete.
And this method doesn’t always answer the real question: What should a Rock be?
Rocks vs. Action Items
Some distinguish between Rocks and Action Items (or To-Dos) by the time required. If it only takes a single step, it’s an Action Item. If it’s multi-step, or involves multiple people, it’s a Rock.
But even this approach misses the mark. No matter how simple or complex, a task shouldn’t be prioritized if it’s not truly important.
The Right Way to Set Rocks
Here’s the key question I’ve learned to ask when setting Rocks:
Does this initiative build your organization’s capacity to deliver more value in the future?
This definition is all about strategic planning. Growth only happens if you build the capacity to deliver more value in the future, while still fulfilling your current commitments.
The Vision & Strategy Map™ comes into play here, offering a clear framework to align your Rocks with your organization’s long-term goals. By mapping out your vision and breaking it into actionable strategies, it becomes easier to prioritize initiatives that genuinely drive growth.
Building Capacity and Future Growth
Rocks only work if you get organized and become more efficient. This allows you to shift energy from serving the present to investing in the future of your business.
The Rock-Step Planner™ can be particularly helpful here. This tool helps you structure your Rocks into actionable steps while keeping them aligned with your broader goals. It’s a powerful way to ensure that every Rock builds toward future capacity and growth.
The good news? At Summit OS®, we’ve developed a system called 45-Day Execution Momentum. It helps our clients get organized, so they can focus on working on their business—which is what Rocks are all about.
(We’ve also developed a process to ensure Rocks get done, but we’ll save that for another time.)
Conclusion
I hope this discussion was helpful. If you’d like assistance in building growth capacity for your business, shoot me a note or an email to steve@stevepreda.com.