The number 23 is somewhat arbitrary, though it does represent the rough number of common issues Gino (the author of Traction, which is what EOS® is based on) felt he and the leadership teams with whom he worked seemed to encounter quarter after quarter. Things like failing to hit important numbers, complete priorities, stay focused on one thing (or even a handful of things) until moving on to something else. In the early days he was looking for patterns, trends, and commonalities shared by vastly different teams/companies/industries - and this is what he found. He ultimately continued watching these things and concluded all 23, or 136, or 10,000 issues really do share a common root cause - weakness in one or more of the Six Key Components. And thus, we have the EOS Model, the tools in the EOS Toolbox, and a proven process for helping teams implement those tools, strengthen those Key Components, and resolve all their common, recurring issues as they arise.