If you’re a business owner and entrepreneur, you know all about the importance of having a clear business structure and a well-defined strategy. Do you rank your workplace culture as equally important? Of the six disciplines in Aileron’s DOC System, Culture can seem the most nebulous. How do you manage it? What does it include? Why does it [ Read More ]
At Aileron, we not only teach professional management, we live it. We believe the DOC System of Professional Management empowers organizations to thrive for the long-term – even our own. The next time you’re on campus, you might see one of our latest professional management techniques in action. You can learn more about how we’re making our strategic priorities [ Read More ]
Since its founding in 1994, Choice One Engineering has been different from other places to work. Early on, Tony Schroeder and his four co-founders prioritized creating a personable, responsive, and fun environment where people were serious about results but not taking themselves too seriously. Like many entrepreneurs, they set out to build the company they wanted to work for [ Read More ]
If you’ve spent more than a few minutes with an Aileron coach or community member, you’ve likely heard about professional management and how it can help you lead with confidence to build a sustainable, thriving organization. We define professional management as a systematic way to run a business. Specifically, we use the Aileron DOC System of Professional Management [ Read More ]
Management consultant and author Peter Drucker is known for saying culture eats strategy for breakfast. Anyone who’s run a business can attest to the power culture has over all areas of the business. Underlying cultural struggles can make collaboration, recruitment and retention, and growth difficult or even impossible. Said differently, unless your culture is in working order, no strategy [ Read More ]
As many people prepare to gather with loved ones, visit distant relatives, and even meet new members of the family, it’s a great time to prepare to make the most of these interactions. No matter the climate around us or the difference in our own beliefs or values, we can always choose to show up positively and productively. [ Read More ]
Aileron sees business owners from all walks of life and all industries come through our doors. We’ve seen professional management transform $2M family-owned small businesses as well as $200M large corporations. Recently, Course for Presidents alumni and CEO of Mailchimp Ben Chestnut was featured in NPR’s How I Built This. During his conversation with Guy Raz, [ Read More ]
Thoughts from Aileron Business Advisor Wes Gipe The average person says approximately 16,000 words per day. That’s an average of 3 hours per day spent talking. To put this in perspective, every two days, we speak enough words to write a long novel. How much of those three hours per day is spoken with true intent? One of my favorite workshops to facilitate is Leading [ Read More ]
Thoughts from Lindsey Bahr, Director of Finance and Administration Leveraging the power of transparency to release fear in uncertainty When the COVID-19 pandemic began, many of us were thrown into uncertain and stress-provoking situations. Those situations can stir up fearful and worrisome thoughts: Am I going to lose my job? Will there be enough cash to make it through [ Read More ]
At the start of 2021, the Aileron team held a “Celebrating Shifts” kick-off meeting to celebrate the ways we adapted to unprecedented uncertainty and change in 2020. Here are four of the lessons we learned. #1 Shifting to Virtual Doesn’t have to Jepoardize Connectedness – It Can Empower It In a year where most of our team moved to [ Read More ]
Working long hours, not getting enough sleep, eating food based on what’s convenient, and missing out on time with your family… These and other stressors can be draining for a small business owner: physically, emotionally, and mentally. At times, it may even seem you have to keep sacrificing your health for the sake of your business. But health and [ Read More ]
During times when it feels like difference is standing in the way of dialogue, lean into listening to better understand and communicate with each other. At Aileron, we practice conscious leadership. It’s an approach to leadership that blends heightened awareness, suspended judgement, and intentionality to empower us to bring our best selves to every role, situation, and conversation. Conscious [ Read More ]
