March 23, 2020 Thoughts by Joni Fedders, President of Aileron The past couple of weeks have been filled with ups and downs. Unfortunately, there’s no rulebook or blueprint for how to navigate a global pandemic, rapidly shift how you operate your business, and lead your team through mass, unprecedented, totally unexpected change. I’m feeling the pain. I’m struggling with [ Read More ]
Aileron is a very unique place. Whether it’s the people, the campus or just the mission we live by, there’s something here that gives people a certain feeling when they leave campus – myself included. Having spent over a year here as an intern, I’m not only leaving my Aileron experience with that can’t-quite-put-your-finger-on-it, magical feeling, but with a [ 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 ]
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 ]
Aileron’s Director of Research & Development, Nicole Luisi, shares the beginnings of Summit, why she’s passionate about the conference, and how it helps her find harmony in her everyday work. Nicole, you were one of the driving forces behind the inaugural conference last year. What inspired you and Aileron to launch Summit in the first place? We’ve built our [ Read More ]
Open up Forbes, head over to HBR, or scroll through Thrive Global, and you’ll see plenty of pieces discussing burnout. People are working long hours and neglecting their health. Workers are answering emails at 12 AM and skipping vacation. Employees aren’t taking advantage of health programs and sitting for too long. The solution? Work-life balance. The answer, according to [ Read More ]
Value Added Packaging (VAP) has an Elite Customer Service Standard. It’s a standard that all customer service team members agree to and sign off on as soon as they join the VAP team. (Headquartered in Ohio, VAP offers custom corrugated packaging manufacturing solutions.) That service experience includes a 30-minute response time when dealing with customers. “It’s just respectful. For one, [ Read More ]
When Travis Greenwood was nineteen, he learned a meaningful leadership lesson he still applies today as a small business owner. Travis was a sophomore in college, working as an intern at an association management firm. Each day, after work, he’d catch a bus to get back to his college campus. On one particular day, Skip, Vice President of the [ Read More ]
Team members at Solid Blend Technologies had a unified vision, but gaps in the company’s operations were starting to show. Solid Blend Technologies is a Dayton-based service water management company established in 1999. A company that’s growing often sees new, unforeseen challenges—and that was no different for Solid Blend Technologies, says Ken Elrich, President of Solid Blend Technologies and his wife, [ Read More ]
