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 ]
Without positive, self-aware, life-giving leaders, organizations and employees fail to flourish. Effective leaders create healthier, more productive employees, reducing burnout, anxiety, sick leave, and stress. And with 52.3% of employees reporting job dissatisfaction, we have some work to do. But how do you become the kind of leader that your employees need? Develop the following characteristics to become the [ 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 ]
No matter how much we love our jobs, we all get overwhelmed at work. A recent survey by the American Psychological Association indicated 65 percent of Americans state work is a main source of daily stress—while only 37% of us know how to manage it. According to the Mayo Clinic, chronic stress increases headaches, fatigue, and depression while decreasing [ 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 ]
While watching many of his employees grow and evolve, Marty Grunder noticed that one of his long-time team members seemed to be losing his spark. Marty is President and CEO of Grunder Landscaping Co., a business he started in 1984 with a lawnmower he bought at a garage sale. Today, some 34 years later, Grunder is one of the most [ Read More ]
"Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years." (Bill Gates) In April of 2008, we opened our campus and began providing a place specifically designed for leaders to plan, think, and advance their business. We thought about our people and about our community. We dreamed of the leaders that would [ Read More ]
In our complex world, it's the unintended consequences that hurt us—not the intended ones. This was the clear and painful story when our organization still conducted annual performance reviews. Our reason for doing them seemed innocent enough: we wanted to help people get a clear review of how they're doing, what they can improve on, and what their future [ Read More ]
