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 ]
June 1, 2020 The Next Normal: Reopening Aileron’s Campus Thoughts by Sara Wiggershaus, Client Services Manager Today Aileron is opening our doors (granted, in a much different, limited, and nuanced way) for the first time in more than two months. It’s a day we’ve been looking forward to for weeks, and one we’ve been planning for since we initially [ Read More ]
Uncertainty is one of the most panic-inducing emotions for any business owner. In a climate of fear, anxiety, and unpredictability, you may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel – and you’re not alone. Business leaders everywhere are feeling this same feeling, and facing the same question: Where do we go from here? [ Read More ]
“Good stories surprise us. They make us think and feel. They stick in our minds and help us remember ideas and concepts in a way that a PowerPoint crammed with bar graphs never can.” – Joe Lazauskas and Shane Snow, “The Storytelling Edge” How many times have you been victim to a boring presentation that’s accompanied with dull data [ Read More ]
You and your team likely don’t have a shortage of ideas; in fact, if you’re like most entrepreneurs, you struggle with idea overwhelm, which can lead to a shortage of one of your most valuable resources: time. Selecting the right opportunities to spend time on is critical for businesses of all sizes. Every opportunity – a public speaking engagement, a [ Read More ]
Your team’s ability to generate new ideas is an indicator of success. It shows that you’re thinking creatively, focusing on what’s next, and innovating. But if you’re coming up with so many ideas that you’re constantly pivoting to focus on the new goal that’s bright and shiny, you’re never making real progress.Idea overwhelm isn’t just a problem for leadership. In [ Read More ]
Every year, you and your team spend days—even weeks—envisioning what could be and charting a course to get there. But as you well know, that’s where the work really begins. Strategic planning is a critical part of the business-building process, but the magic of transformation lives in strategy implementation. In addition to being thoughtfully planned, your strategy should be: Communicated: [ Read More ]
Most of us never think about the strategy a company has, we just know whether it appeals to us or not. But it’s not hard to identify what a given business’s strategy is. Consider the McDonald’s strategy. Their goal is to sell fast food to make money, but their strategy is clear. It says, “We are going to be [ Read More ]
If you never say no, then your strategy is missing a crucial piece. Many businesses work hard to identify and serve a target customer. But knowing which kinds of customers you don’t serve should also be part of your overall strategy. Challenge yourself to answer these questions: When was the last time you gave up a short-term win [ Read More ]
It can feel lonely at the top. You’re giving your all, but it doesn’t feel like enough. You’ve poured your heart into your work, and you love what you do. But you’re tired, too. When things get tough, who can you turn to? It feels like no one understands what you’re going through. Recently, we sat down with Aileron [ Read More ]
When considering the future of your business, what is the planning time horizon you typically use? Is it 3-5 years, a decade? What if you had to consider the future of your business 50 or even 100 years into the future? Would the goals and strategies considered and employed be different if the planning horizon were a century rather [ Read More ]
If you're a manager working overtime to make up for your team's shortcomings, you probably don't have time to help your employees improve their own skills. You know that half a manager's job is people development, but you just don't have the time. I wrote earlier about the dangers of being caught in the Gap Trap. You seem to [ Read More ]
