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 ]
Where are you headed? How will you get there? Why does that matter? It’s normal to wrestle with these questions. But where do you take them? For our team, there’s nothing quite like sitting down with our Founder, Clay Mathile. Here’s what Jennifer Rohren (Marketing Coordinator), Dave Dunaway (Business Coach), and Ashley Mercs (Intern) learned from a recent lunch [ Read More ]
We’ve all been there. You’re picking up pizza five minutes before your in-laws arrive for dinner because, with the week you had, you had time to either clean the house or cook—not both. Your son just mentioned he needs cupcakes for school tomorrow—looks like you’ll be baking all night. Seeing others’ New Year’s resolutions just makes you grumpy because [ 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 ]
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 ]
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 ]
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 ]
