[EO San Francisco] Greg Weitzman’s Journey Through Music, Entrepreneurship, and Advocacy

Greg Weitzman is a seasoned entrepreneur and business consultant specializing in the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). With a background in business banking and financial strategy coaching for small to midsize companies, Greg transitioned into entrepreneurship and leadership. He co-founded Flexability LLC, which focuses on enhancing workplace culture, optimizing talent, and fostering inclusion. In his role at Flexability, Greg implements EOS to assist other entrepreneurs in clarifying their visions, enhancing accountability, and promoting organizational health.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[2:09] Greg Weitzman shares how his diverse experiences shaped his leadership style and professional philosophy
[6:19] Greg discusses his transition from banking to becoming an EOS implementer
[11:57] How adaptability has been crucial in Greg’s career and personal development
[14:20] Why Greg developed a strong commitment to workplace inclusivity and support for people with disabilities
[20:34] How implementing EOS principles can drive business growth, enhance accountability, and improve organizational health

In this episode…

How does a journey filled with musical aspirations and international moves shape a visionary leader in the business world? Can such diverse experiences contribute to a unique leadership style that not only propels companies forward but also champions inclusivity and support for people with disabilities?

According to Greg Weitzman, a seasoned EOS implementer with a rich background in both the arts and corporate sectors, his eclectic journey has deeply influenced his professional and personal philosophy. He explains how his experiences, from a childhood filled with international relocations to pursuing a music career, have all converged to shape his approach to business leadership. Greg highlights the importance of adaptability and empathy — qualities that have made him a strong advocate for inclusivity in the workplace. These insights reveal how diverse life experiences can uniquely equip someone to drive meaningful change in business environments.

In this episode of the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, host John Corcoran talks with Greg Weitzman about transforming personal challenges into professional opportunities. They talk about Greg’s transition from music to banking to EOS, his approach to integrating EOS principles to foster business growth and inclusivity, and his personal commitment to supporting people with disabilities in the workplace.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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Episode Transcript

Intro 0:03

Welcome to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast where we feature top founders and entrepreneurs and their journey. Now let’s get started with the show.

John Corcoran 0:13

Alright, welcome everyone. John Corcoran here. I’m one of the Co-hosts of this show. And you know, every week we get to talk to smart CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs of all kinds of different companies, that array of different companies on here and you can check out the archives to see all the different episodes that we’ve had on there. And of course, this episode brought to you by EO San Francisco. EO San Francisco is the local chapter in the San Francisco Bay area of Entrepreneurs Organization, which is a global peer to peer network of more than 18,000 individual business owners across 200 chapters 60 plus countries. So if you’re the founder, co founder owner or controlling shareholder of a company that generates over a million dollars a year in revenue, and you want to connect with other like minded, successful entrepreneurs, eo is the right fit for you. And of course, we do that here in the Bay Area. EOSF chapter was founded in 1991. Today has over 120 members in all kinds of different industries. To learn more about it, you can go join us for a test drive, you can go to eo network.org/sanfrancisco to learn more about everything that we do. And of course, I am the co founder and I’m a volunteer member of the Board of Directors for EOS, San Francisco, co founder Rise25, which is a b2b podcast company. And my guests here today is Greg Weitzman, he is a certified EOS implementer has a long background with EOS, which is based on the book Traction by Gina Whitman, which is over my shoulder at all times. Keep it close by. It’s a wonderful book. And it’s a great system and process and operating system for businesses. Of course, we’re gonna get into that whole background. But Greg, pleasure to have you here and I love to start people off to know a little bit more about them what they were like as a kid. You moved a lot as a kid. I didn’t move as much as you I moved a couple of times significantly across the country. I thought it was a big, it was a big deal for me for my upbringing, but you 19 times in your life you’ve moved cluding abroad Belgium, Hungary, and you started a business it was like an early DoorDash in Belgium let’s hear about that.

Greg Weitzman 2:09

John, thanks for having me. It’s great to be here. I Yeah. As a kid, I moved around quite a bit. My dad’s work. People was asking, were you an army brat or what happened? But I was a corporate brat, my dad worked for Citigroup at the time and said rolls across the tickets across the world. So I lived in Belgium and in Budapest, Hungary when I was young, and I like to say my entrepreneurship journey started there in Belgium, I was a kid out on the school playground, and I was telling my classmates, hey, I’m willing to walk across the quad to go get some snacks for us, you know, and I’ll take your money. And if you’re willing to give me you know, 10 cents a quarter, I’ll bring back your snacks and I’ll take my cut. And so I would and I’d walk home, I come home from school, my mom would look at me and she’d say, How did you get all these coins? Like where are these come from? So I guess I had the entrepreneurship itch when I was young at that time.

John Corcoran 3:09

And then they also lit a fire under you and said that you want to buy it when your list a little bit older, as imagine around 16 or something. If you want a car, you need to raise the money yourself to get it. And tell us how you did that.

Greg Weitzman 3:22

Yeah, so I grew up playing piano. It’s always been a big passion of mine. I actually went to school on a piano scholarship that I was going to write music for movies. And obviously my life went a different path. But my parents told me that if I wanted to get my first car that I had to contribute, you know, at least 75% of the money to help purchase it. So I use that piano talent and I decided that I was going to find a local studio. This was here in the Bay Area in Lafayette that would be willing to help produce the CD for high school kid I would pay them back the money kind of through the CD sales and ended up raising about 10,000 bucks through selling the CD different places at the school. Even a little bit of Tower Records. They will raise enough money to help buy my first car.

John Corcoran 4:14

For all you young kids listening to this Tower Records was a place where people sold music in a physical location. I know it sounds crazy today, but that’s the way it used to be done. Tower Records is the place to go. I remember going there as a kid and getting concert tickets and how fun it was to go through look through all the albums, new albums and stuff like that. One question 19 moves Did you bring a piano with you through each of those moves? Or did you have a keyboard? What did you do?

Greg Weitzman 4:41

Um, I most of the moves when I was a kid, I have this baby grand piano that kind of traveled with us and it took up probably too much space but I loved it and my parents loved you know, enjoyed that I was playing it. So that came with us and then when we Were when I went off to school to college different things. I just had a keyboard. And I had a keyboard. But fun fact, I, my parents had called me and this was probably five years ago and they said, we’re getting rid of this thing. And I said, Don’t do that. i It’s my childhood piano, I need it. I want it. So I ended up convincing them to send it to me instead. And I did it.

John Corcoran 5:23

That’s great. I took piano lessons when I was a kid from the wife of Don Gardner. Don Gardner wrote the song All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth is kind of like his, his pride and joy. And they had like five pianos in their living room and would do piano lessons all time. So it was really cool. So you, you make money off of this. You go to school on a piano scholarship, but you found yourself kind of slaving away one day in the dungeon of some building, playing piano and had to ask yourself, Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life?

Greg Weitzman 6:01

Yeah, I was sitting I call it the dungeon, like you said, it’s a small box with which has just enough room for you and the piano. And I would spend hours in there practice in a way. And I was asking myself is this all I want to do with my life? 110% and I like too many other things. I enjoyed business. I was curious about psychology and sociology. And so I ended up deciding not to continue that went into psychology and found my way after I graduated in some way following following my dad and went into banking. And so very, everyone’s, Oh, you went to school for music? That’s great. And then you became a banker?

John Corcoran 6:44

I’m just a vague, do people outwardly accuse you of being a sellout to your face? Or in the tone of the way they ask about?

[Continue to Page 2]

Greg Weitzman 6:51

It’s the tone. So when did you when did you give up on your passion? And I? You know, I don’t look at it that way. You know, I actually really enjoyed a lot of parts of banking. I love getting to work with business owners and hear their stories and how they were doing what they were doing and feeling like I was part of the team that was supporting and helping them. So I I really did enjoy that. And it kind of that’s actually what brought me closer to what I’m doing now, which I absolutely love. And I and you still get to play piano every day. It’s it’s the vocation that’s an avocation.

John Corcoran 7:27

Yeah. By the way, you mentioned kind of the diversity of life and you moved around. You lived in Belgium, Hungary. I’ve interviewed people from Belgium fact I interviewed a guest that led I think it was Belgium, left Belgium and moved to United States because of the anti semitism there. And your grandparent you said you had two grandparents that were in Auschwitz during World War Two was a grandfather and grandmother that, yeah, they’re both there. Okay.

Greg Weitzman 7:52

Yeah. My mom’s my mom’s mom and father were in Hungary. World War Two, they were actually taken the Dachau and Auschwitz and they were liberated. They were liberated, they survived. And there’s some amazing stories with that, but they ended up coming over to the US. And that’s where my mom was born in New York. And my my grandfather owned a leather factory was an entrepreneur did that actually in New York, and then Jamaica? So there’s, it’s, it’s a really, it’s a fascinating story kind of about survival on them and kind of what they had to do to escape. We actually went back with my grandmother to Auschwitz with how, I don’t know who has this. I don’t know if I could ever have the strength to go back and face something like that.

John Corcoran 8:40

How old were you when you went?

Greg Weitzman 8:42

Ah, must have been. Well, what was that like for you? And for her? It felt I mean, for her in some way. It was almost like she was just walking just walking you through and yep, this is where this is where our bunks were. And in some way, it was almost like she was just was giving you a tour of of of anything else and walking through and you can kind of tell she had she wasn’t at this point, you know, she since she since passed, passed away, but she just had this I wouldn’t I wouldn’t say coldness, but almost detachment.

John Corcoran 9:24

Probably the only way she could manage to go back there if you if you have some sense of detachment because otherwise it would be too overwhelming.

Greg Weitzman 9:33

Yeah, and for me, it’s I mean, you’re you’re in a place which feels like or it feels like atrocities were absolutely committed there. And yeah, you’re as even as even as even as a kid you can just feel the weight of the place when you’re there.

John Corcoran 9:50

Yeah, yeah. And so in by the way, I want to just, you know, mentioned my grant. So my Business Partner Jeremy, his grandfather was a Holocaust survivor and was in a couple of different concentration camps, I believe. And, you know, his story was captured through the Holocaust foundation that captured videos of many of the survivors to capture their stories and preserve them for future generations. My grandfather was a B17 pilot and captain did 35 missions somehow survived. I don’t know how he survived a B seven teens 35 missions over over Nazi Germany. And we German I’d like to think that his grandfather, my grandfather didn’t know each other, obviously, but they were kind of fighting the same righteous cause one from the ground, one from the air. But yeah, just the horrors of that period of time in our history. Yeah. And, you know, what kind of an impact did that have on you, you know, as you grew up? Or is that something that you thought about later in life?

Greg Weitzman 10:57

You know, it’s, it’s something I thought about what I mean later in life is like, as a kid, you’re kind of going through the motions and going, going where you need to go. But my parents, I remember my dad, my dad passed away three years ago, and I remember him asking me maybe it was probably five years prior. Like didn’t, did we screw you up by moving your raft by moving your round and bouncing around when you’re a kid? And I’m like, Well, we’re all we’re all a little screwed up in some way. I think it’s not so much the digit screw me up. It’s what? What different baggage. Did you leave me with then if we hadn’t grown up all in one town and never got a chance to see the world?

John Corcoran 11:36

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I personally, you know, I moved around a bit as a kid and I was cross country, you know, not different into other countries. But I feel like it’s such a, it’s it was such an asset, because when I got to college, it was like, Oh, this is just the new thing. So people are always homesick. I’m like, why are you homesick? I’m, I’m used to like going to class with a bunch of new people.

Greg Weitzman 11:57

I totally relate with that. And I think, on some level, it’s made me really flexible. It’s made me really adaptable, I can get thrown into a new setting, and it’s okay, here we go. On the other hand, every two years, I get the itch to shake stuff up in my life.

John Corcoran 12:12

You know what I do, too? I was just talking with some other EO members recently. And they were like, you really kind of mixed it up. You had like five or six different careers? I’m like, Yes, I have, you know, yeah, it’s like you kind of get that itch. Oh, so I was gonna ask you. So you actually end up living in Belgium, Hungary, some of these places that were experienced the horrors of World War Two? I don’t know if you were too young at the time, you know, but did the fact that your your heritage was from there, you know, that your parents had been held hostage had been sent to concentration camps and some of these countries that did that have an impact on you going back and living in these places?

Greg Weitzman 12:50

At the time not to say I’m going to say no, not at the time, in reflection, I think it was a totally broaden my exposure and opened my eyes to other cultures to history in a completely different way. When we’re learning you know, world history. In high school, you have a very, you have a little bit of a different take than than kids who maybe haven’t traveled outside of the states. But for me, what was so interesting is that here I am, eight, 910 1112 years old, and I’m in international schools with kids from all over the world. And it began it opens your eyes to the fact that you know, how the similarities that exist between different cultures as your kids, and how that similarity starts to we lose sight of that. Because we just we aren’t exposed you’re not exposed to on your kid. And I think that’s one thing that’s helped me a lot in my life, as I’ve moved around my career as I moved around as a human being is just the ability to, like you said, shift, adapt, be a chameleon and recognize the similarities and people now now, LONG way kind of thing.

John Corcoran 14:05

Now, another inspiration in the work that you do is a bit of a passion for people that have just struggled with disabilities, whether physical or mental. And you’ve been touched by that and your family. Want to talk a little bit about that.

Greg Weitzman 14:20

Yeah, you know, my I mentioned my grandfather earlier, he was an entrepreneur on the leather factory. But I remember, you know, when I was really young, he went in for a routine back surgery, Doctor screwed up, came out, and he was paraplegic. And he was using a wheelchair for the rest of his life while he was alive. And just the struggles of whether it was care for him, whether it was access, whether it was mobility, a lot of challenges and struggles with it, and I’ve had other family members that have struggled with, you know, invisible disabilities, mental disabilities and things that have been And, you know, a real struggle for them, whether it be at work, or just how they navigate the world. So it has been a big, a big passion of mine to, you know, to, to think about that issue and how it pertains to, specifically the workplace. And that’s, that’s actually, as I left banking, and did that for some time, one of my, one of our customers, the organization Golf Foundation had said, hey, you know, we want you to come come work for us, and be on our leadership team. And they were an organization that helped people with disabilities find employment, specifically at government agencies. And so this kind of personal connection that I’ve seen my family, in addition to, you know, one of my clients saying, hey, we’d love for you to come do this. I thought, what an opportunity. And that’s what led me to leave banking to go be part of golf, which, coincidentally, was running on EOS. And that was my exposure, which ultimately led me here.

John Corcoran 16:00

So that guy you to EOS and what was it about the EOS system that had such a big impact on your life?

Greg Weitzman 16:10

Coming from the bureaucracy of something like banking, the global nature of banking, like said, you know, when did you sell out? It’s funny to me, I, I went from that environment to something like an EOS company where it’s about transparency, and open and honest and visibility and numbers and accountability, all these things just resonated. And also, EOS isn’t. I like to say EOS is simple, but it’s not easy. And being a musician, logic, border construction, right, I think there’s actually a lot of similarities between music and something in a system like Eos, because music is all about structure. But the beauty of what happens isn’t so much the read how rigid it is, it’s about the interpretation and bringing to life, what’s on the page and how all these parts have form or conversation and fit together. EOS is very much a system. But it’s a system to focus on Align human energy, so that you can accept analyze the humanity within a company. And I think that’s what I love about it.

John Corcoran 17:16

Yeah. And is it that you know, I hear of EOS mostly in the for profit world with companies, startup companies, established companies, bootstrap companies, VC funded companies. But but I guess it can work anywhere. Obviously, you can work within a nonprofit, it doesn’t need to be a for profit company.

Greg Weitzman 17:35

There’s even a book The EOS life, you can use it in your personal life there, there are principles of Eos that can apply and help just about anybody that said, EOS as a system was built for, you know, companies with for profit companies with 10 to 250. Employees and size. They’re growth oriented, they’re open minded, they’re willing to be vulnerable, and they’re afraid of the status quo and want to make a change. That’s who it’s made for a nonprofit, absolutely can use these tools. And there are many that do. But some if you know, they’re kind of coming into it, we always like to kind of caveat and say the system wasn’t designed for you a lot will work here. But you may find that we have to kind of tweak some stuff to make it fit. And that’s not us as false. Just do us was made for those companies.

John Corcoran 18:26

Yeah. Now, when you you came into Golf Foundation, they were already using it. So you weren’t the integrators the term within the company. Right? Correct. Then you founded another company after that flexibility. And then you implemented it into that company, is that right?

Greg Weitzman 18:43

Correct. And I was a integrator of flexibility. My business partner, Nancy, we ran flexibility using EOS USD an implementer. So I like to say that I’ve seen EOS both from being part of a leadership team from being an integrator, and now an implementer. So I’ve seen it from a lot of different perspectives. Yeah.

John Corcoran 19:05

And so and then after that, you decided that you would go and help and then that’s frequently the case, but but people frequently they use it in their own business, and then they decide this is so amazing. This is so life changing, that I need to help others with it. What kind of impact did you see when you implemented it in your company?

Greg Weitzman 19:24

I think the biggest part is just the it’s meant to clear up the noise. There’s a lot of stuff that gets thrown at you. And this just helps you to sink in and focus on what’s really important. What are my rocks and priorities? How do I stay on top of those and focused and communicative and solve problems? And think about people. So the biggest thing that I saw is it really just got us really focused on what do we got to do to get where we want to go. And in a world where there’s so much changing and there’s a lot coming at you a system like this that keeps you from because this is really powerful.

John Corcoran 20:01

And how we’re recording this in, you know, heading into mid 2024. There’s a lot of changes that are happening right now the economy has really been kind of uncertain over the last year. AI is affecting a lot of different businesses and will affect a lot of businesses in the future. Talk a little bit about kind of the impact that you you see right now, or what are your what is your eye on in terms of how it’s helping businesses, if there any, you know, flavors or nuances to the current economy that we’re in?

Greg Weitzman 20:34

Yeah, I would I like to think about is that EOS is good at helping you understand is giving you a structure and a format to say what do we got to focus on? And how do we hold ourselves accountable and get get alignment of our teams to get where we want to go? We call it vision, traction, healthy, AI, disrupting absolutely disrupting the world, disrupting businesses and industries. Something like that. What EOS can do is to one give you at least a methodology as sort of a framework to operate from one that has a really good structure, you can see kind of the wheel behind me of the six key components. But it’s a good framework to operate from so that you can one know if you’re running a strong and stable business as these changes arise. So it’s getting you into the fundamentals of do we have clarity of our vision? Do we have the right people in the right seats? Are we using data effectively solving problems at the root, clear process? And are we really creating great accountability and having execution throughout our company, disruptions will come along, at least you’ve got a strong stable business. And now when you make decisions about what you need to focus on, you have a method to do that. So EOS isn’t going to give you the answers, what it’s going to do is flip the light on, so that you see what problems are facing you. And you have a choice to face them or not.

John Corcoran 22:04

And for those who aren’t familiar with it, they can get started by reading the book if they want. There’s lots of content online, there’s videos on YouTube, I think you guys typically do some kind of like consultation or initial session or something like that. What does it look like for anyone listening to this who’s curious about dipping their toes in the water and experiencing it? What do you recommend people do?

Greg Weitzman 22:27

So reading Traction is always it’s a great starting point. If you choose to implement with an implementer. Otherwise, reading, traction is still something that we’re gonna suggest you do. But every EOS implementers happy to give you what we call a 90 minute meeting. Absolutely free, there’s no cost to it, it’s just sitting down with us. First, we’ll walk you through the background of EOs, all the different tools that support vision, people data issues, process and traction, the six key components of what makes a business, you know, remote helps you run a great business, and the process of how you should implement those. So we walk you through that over 90 minutes. That’s a great starting point for a company that wants to explore this as an option. And if nothing else, go, I can send you a link every implementers got a website, and there’s tons of free stuff on their blogs, tools, you can download different things and just learn about all the different stuff and how it can affect your business. And there’s also software out there too. So there’s a lot of ways to get exposed to this. And every implementer is happy to talk to you and just help you understand how to find these things and how you might use them.

John Corcoran 23:42

We’ll certainly link that up in the show notes. But for anyone who’s listening to this in the car or whatever. Where can they go to learn more about you Greg?

Greg Weitzman 23:49

Yes, they can go to www.eosworldwide.com/greg-weitzman. So www.eosworldwide.com/greg-weitzman.

John Corcoran 24:05

Greg, thanks so much.

Greg Weitzman 24:08

My pleasure.

Outro 24:10

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