Profits have dipped, productivity has slowed, and your business has felt like it’s been on a roller coaster for years. I hear it all the time when leading business owners through Aileron’s Course for Presidents® program. Sure, maybe it's the economy. Or those conditions could be clues that your organization is lacking the right kind of leadership. Here are some [ Read More ]
Is your profit margin average for your industry? Is your revenue per customer in the middle of the pack for companies like yours? How about your growth rate as compared to the industry? Statisticians like to point to averages as a way to explain trends and define an industry. And we oftentimes think that we are lucky if we [ Read More ]
Not all company growth comes from selling more. Wes Gipe, Founder of Agil IT, agrees, saying he experienced this within his own company: “I had been so externally focused. I was focused on growing the business," he says in this video. "I really didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the success of the people within the organization.” [ Read More ]
“People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it,” says Simon Sinek. Stacy Sheldon, Managing Partner at POMIET, agrees, saying that having clarity on POMIET’s why has helped their sales team attract more of their ideal type of customers. (POMIET provides customized web and mobile solutions in the healthcare space.) “What we realized early on is that [ Read More ]
In 2008, Nick Sarillo’s team at Nick’s Pizza & Pub made the decision to abandon its expansion plans for a third restaurant, and refocus on its existing two. (Based in Illinois, Nick’s Pizza & Pub is one of the top ten busiest independent pizza companies in per-store sales in the nation. Today, it has margins nearly twice that of [ Read More ]
We sat down with Ed Baker, author of The Symphony of Profound Knowledge, to talk about the motivation behind writing his latest book, including what he says was the most challenging and rewarding part of the process. “This book provides a framework to think differently about organizations, in contrast to what business schools teach,” Ed tells us. “Living is [ Read More ]
How do you know when it’s time to add new members to your board? Tony Schroeder, CEO of Choice One Engineering, says it really comes down to how much value a board member is providing you, the business owner. (Tony is also a Business Advisor at Aileron.) “When I can predict what the board member is going to say, [ Read More ]
“A good plan today is better than a perfect one tomorrow.” – General George Patton Many entrepreneurs start their company wanting to build the perfect product or service for their customer. This is a big mistake and here's why. Perfect can take too long to develop. Most entrepreneurs have a limited amount of development funds before they need to [ Read More ]
Planning and setting direction for the future of your business is integral to professional management. As a result, succession planning and sustainability are a natural part of implementing the DOC model.Even though many business owners/founders produce a forward-looking vision for their company, fears or uncertainties can hold back the process of planning for a successful exit. If you don't figure [ Read More ]
“How can you not invest in people?” asks Mark Thompson, a former Business Advisor at Aileron. “It’s your only difference,” he says in this video also featured on Forbes. Ed Eppley, Course for Presidents Facilitator at Aileron, agrees that high-performing companies are those that invest in their people. Ed says that it’s in a business owner’s best interest [ Read More ]
Although commonly used, sports are a weak analogy for thinking and talking about business. Mark Thompson, an Aileron Business Advisor, explains why a symphony is a better analogy for how we develop and support people in an organization. It’s More Than High Performers Sports analogies often glamorize motivation coming from a coach or a team leader. But high-performing organizations [ Read More ]
When Beth Savage became the owner of PQ Systems, the first thing she did was put together an outside board, she says in this video. “Why not have a board that is there for the sole reason of helping you and your team succeed?” says Beth. Many business owners are reluctant to create an outside board. Some believe that [ Read More ]
