Business Lessons: A Group of Business Owners Share Their Success Stories

Written by Bill Thompson

Begin the slideshow top right! 

Aileron has taught business owners how to professionally manage and grow their companies for almost 20 years.

During that time, the people at the nonprofit organization also have been learning from the same clients that they serve. In addition, the journey of the former Center for Entrepreneurial Education parallels the greatest technological innovation in history. Today, Aileron is taking its core concept of professional management – the DOC System: Direction, Operation and Control – and expanding it into new programs such as Tool Talks, while delivering its message on new platforms such as online presentations, seminars and interactive roundtable discussions.

Aileron understands that business in today’s world doesn’t stand still, but also knows that problems faced by owners and entrepreneurs are common no matter the product or service those companies provide. 

Aileron founder Clay Mathile says entrepreneurs perform the most noble acts in a free society by putting their capital at risk to create jobs for others. The organization’s mission is to help those people realize their vision by developing a plan.

Aileron will spend this year preparing to celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2016. Although it is an opportunity to reflect and celebrate the achievements of what began as the Center Entrepreneurial Education, president Joni Fedders is focused on the changes that will define the next 20 years and beyond.

"We started very program oriented," Fedders says. "Come to a course, we would give you an advisor, and for a couple of hours afterward you could talk. That was way back at the beginning."

The beginning of Aileron was an idea in the mind of Clay Mathile, who built the Iams pet food company from a small family business in Dayton into an international giant before selling it to Procter & Gamble in 1999 for $2.3 billion.

Mathile credited the concept of professional management for his success and set out to share what he had learned. That led to programs in the cafeteria of Iams where the DOC model was developed. That consists of three fundamentals: Direction, Operation, Control, and six disciplines grouped underneath – Leadership, Strategy, People Development, Business Structure, Performance Management and Culture.

The center offered programs related to those topics, including the flagship Course for Presidents that was introduced in 2001. In 2003, Fedders was hired as the first full-time employee, charged with building an organization that would help entrepreneurs for generations to come. In 2005, the name was changed to Aileron, which is the part of an airplane’s wing that helps guide the craft. That same year, ground was broken on the company’s architecturally magnificent campus in southern Miami County, just north of I-70, which opened in 2008. 

That is an impressive list of accomplishments, certainly something to be proud of. But what truly excites Fedders and others members of the staff and the nonprofit organization’s clients are the possibilities.

"We have been operating off of this very high-level (DOC) model and it really resonates with people," Fedders says. "(But) we needed to learn how to become a learning and development organization: how do you transfer all of this knowledge that we are exposed to through our business owners about what’s working, what’s not working."

One of the beauties of Aileron’s mission is its interactivity. Clients who sign up for programs bring as much to the table as they learn from the sessions. 

The organization has tapped into that real-world knowledge for new programs such as Tool Talks. A small group (no more than 10) meets for a short time (no more than 90 minutes) on a single topic that falls under the umbrella of the six disciplines. A peer presenter (client or staff member) shares a tool (technique or solution), then the group adds its input during a wide-ranging discussion.

Tool Talks and other sessions like it are moving away from what Scott George calls, "the sage on the stage to a guide on the side. It’s not about having that thought leader or one person who knows everything just imparting their wisdom." 

George joined Aileron 2½ years ago as director of research and product development. 

"As I pulled in here, I looked across our product line and there are a lot of services that are one-on-one, delivered by our business advisors to an individual owner or organization," he says. "We had a few that I would say were more scalable for multiple organizations that could be delivered by multiple people, but not a lot."

George, like Fedders, is a former Iams employee who was familiar with Aileron before he joined. His background is in learning and development, so he’s involved in building the competency model that helps measure each client’s needs and match those to programs and services offered, plus an expanded delivery system for those resources. 

"We’ve spent four years developing a competency model (to measure a client’s effectiveness)," Fedders says. "The second part of that is how do we use technology to enable that sharing of peer conversations or searching resources or being able to identify where you are (in the program) or whatever it takes to become a much more multi-faceted provider.

"We want to become part of people’s work week. This shouldn’t be just a mountaintop experience where you come for a day a year. It should be, ‘I need this tool,’ or ‘I’m struggling with this.’ I hope you can go on a forum and find how other people are doing it or get another idea from another business owner."

The professional management concept is based on the fact that business owners have common problems no matter their line of work. After Seth Angle bought out his partners to become the sole owner of Force Design in Covington, Ohio, he knew he needed to learn about running a business. He was an engineer.

"During the president’s course, you take an assessment," Angle says. "We completely flunked that. We didn’t have a vision, a mission or any of that. So for me, it was starting clear back and asking, ‘Why are we doing what we’re doing? What do I want out of it? Why is this important to me?’ "

The answers to those questions are also likely to be common to any business owner, but Angle’s assessment was tailored to his company. As George and his team drill deeper into each client’s competency, he can make the solutions more specific.

"We can get really scientific about these inter-relationships," he says. "You might have these four issues and I can work on this one that only impacts one of them, or I can work on this one that impacts three of them. 

"This will be easier to see as we get data to see what people work on and how they improve. But just completing a program won’t raise their level of competence; now (they) have the knowledge and (they) have to put it into practice."

This is the key to the system. Aileron can provide the map for business owners to implement professional management. Its track record shows companies that are able to utilize its techniques will be more successful. But it’s the clients who have to do the heavy lifting on a daily basis.

"(Running a business) is overwhelming," Fedders says. "I think when a lot of people come in here, the DOC model gives them a structure to say, ‘OK, this helps me get an understanding of what all the pieces are, and I can focus in one area and start to build that part of it.

"All of these people are used to working hard. As Clay used to say, ‘An entrepreneur is somebody who is willing to work 16 hours a day to avoid working 8 hours a day for somebody else.’ "

As technology connected people across long distances, it was inevitable that Aileron’s message would travel beyond the Miami Valley. And while local clients describe visits to the campus in almost mystical terms, the organization’s reach has expanded across the country.

Reaching those people is a priority.

"Right now, 40% of our clients are from around the country," Fedders says. "Our business advisors are very tech savvy so they can do Uber calls or Skype calls or conference calls. We’re serving them; sometimes they come here for meetings, sometimes we go there.

"Before this campus existed, we operated for 10 years in a (basement cafeteria) and had the same emotion. The campus … gave us credibility in a bigger marketplace. Dayton people got it, but other people discovered, ‘These people are serious.’ I think online technology can enhance that and how we roll it out can enhance it."

It can be a fool’s errand to predict the future. But it’s likely that there will always be people willing to bet that they have a good idea for a business. And it’s a lock that the folks at Aileron will be there to help them succeed. 

The mission of Aileron’s Tool Talks program is very clear: It will provide a peer-proven tool to add to the client’s management arsenal. The short, tightly focused roundtable is designed to address real-life challenges faced by business leaders.

There are many roads to Aileron for business owners and executives. As the reputation of the nonprofit organization that supports entrepreneurs grows, leaders from around the United States sign up for programs that teach the value of professional management.

Aileron’s flagship is the Course for Presidents, a two-day session aimed for owners, presidents and CEOs of privately held companies. Companion programs include Course for Senior Executives, Outside Boards and Course for Managers. The centerpiece is Aileron’s DOC model, which outlines the three fundamentals and six disciplines that form the foundation of professional management. 

Aileron’s commitment to its clients doesn’t end with introducing these concepts, however. As a matter of fact, it could be said that the real education begins after that.

One of its most recent initiatives is Tool Talks, a 90-minute interactive discussion on a single topic led by a peer (Aileron client or staff member) presenter who offers a proven "tool" that has helped solve a common business problem.

Nicole Luisi is Aileron’s Learning Experiences product manager who developed the roundtable. She also served as the facilitator for the majority of the first year’s sessions.  

"The most important thing (about Tool Talks) is the topic," Luisi says. "I will tell the people in the group, ‘Something brought you here today. This topic was relevant, so write down your specific issue.’

"We’ve done some research and found that clients don’t come because of the presenter, they don’t come specifically knowing the tool. They have the same problem: it’s the topic."

Those topics fit into one of the six disciplines of the DOC model, but are very specific. Under the Performance Management header could be Tool Talks on holding employees accountable or how to hold a performance review. 

Chuck Huggins is the director of client development at Aileron. He also does individual leadership coaching. When he presents at Tool Talks, he gives the clients a handout titled Energy Leadership Levels and Coaching Approaches Summary. There are seven levels in the Energy Leadership category.

"I’ll take them through each of the levels and I’ll ask for examples," he says. "My tool is all about you, how you react to situations. Leadership is all about influence, how you influence people. That starts with how you act in these situations.

"You can’t change other people, the only way you can help them change is to change your own behavior and how you react to situations."

Huggins is a professional coach, but many of the peer presenters are clients who have found a solution a problem that resonates with other leaders.

"(Tool Talks) is about sharing your story and experience about something that has worked," Luisi says. "Or perhaps didn’t work ... What’s interesting is that (clients) we’ve asked (to present) are so humble, they didn’t think they were worthy enough.

"But they are because we don’t present this as the only way … it’s just a way. It’s more about the dialog and discussion of getting your specific issue addressed."

The response to Tool Talks has been overwhelmingly positive among clients. 

"I love them: they’re quick, they’re fast, you get in and out, they are on a specific, tiny topic," says Scott Knowles, president of Wolf Creek Co., a turf management firm in Trotwood. "Whether I do everything they did, or take parts and pieces and blend it into what I’m doing, all of the (sessions) I’ve been to have been helpful."

Tool Talks will serve another role for Aileron. It is the first recurring program to be offered online.

"Strategically, one of our priorities is to be able to service our clients no matter where they are physically," Luisi says. "So the default offering will be online.

"(Participants) will see the Aileron facilitator and the peer presenter live. Then they will have a static photo of each of the participants. It is limited to 10 people so it’s still very interactive. You are encouraged to participate face-to-face just like you would on campus."

Most of Aileron’s new clients are coming from around the country, not southwest Ohio. Leveraging technology to reach those folks is key to the organization’s growth.

"Look at our portfolio of products and 99.9% of them are done right (on campus)," says Scott George, director of research and product development. "But now it has expanded to be a national organization. So how do we make these learning solutions available to people no matter where they are?"

Huggins was the peer presenter for the first online session and he was happy with the format.

"I did the in-person one in the morning," he says, "then online in the afternoon. And it was really, really good. People were really engaged. They could see us, we couldn’t see them, so as a presenter and as a facilitator, you have to keep your focus on the camera.

"I didn’t see any drop-off as far as engagement in the discussions, which I think is a testament to the design and what they’re trying to get out of it."

Tool Talks is only the first step in Aileron’s campaign to engage its national clientele online. Jennifer Rohren is a client development specialist who is working on a new project.

"One of the initiatives is to roll out a new portal for clients so they can log in and engage with (the organization)," she says. "We’re trying to bring new functionality and have new insight into our systems and our online programs."

In one of her other roles, Rohren helps clients establish a board of advisors. "I’m a matchmaker behind the scenes between our talented contributor community and our clients, so they can get access to resources and advice."

If she needs a tool to help with her online initiative, Rohren knows who to talk to for advice.

The owner of Force Design knew how to build machines for his customers: You have a problem to solve, you devise a strategy, a plan and a task list, then do it. Aileron showed him that building a business was very similar.

Seth Angle was certain about two things while growing up in Covington, Ohio.

He knew he wanted to be an engineer, so he took college prep engineering classes at nearby Edison State Community College in Piqua during his junior and senior years in high school before heading to Wright State to earn his degree in mechanical engineering.

And he wanted to own a business.

Credit Angle’s engineer-like focus for becoming a successful engineer. But Angle credits Aileron for teaching him to become a successful business owner.

Angle joined Force Design, which had been started in the late 1990s by two friends, in 2000. Within two years, he bought out his friends and found himself in charge of a nine-person company that designed industrial equipment.

"I was an engineer," Angle says. "All of my training was as an engineer. I never had any business training.

"I learned about Aileron through a friend who owns an IT business. I saw where it had made a huge difference in his business. We were at that point through the start-up phase when we were doing what needed to be done. Then we started to see that we needed to get a little more organized."

Angle took Aileron’s Course for Presidents in 2010 and says he was "completely blown away." He has been active in the organization ever since, especially among his peer group, which still meets once a month. And being the good engineer, Angle can appreciate the value of having Tool Talks in his management toolbox.

"The group is small, and one of the things that really makes them work for me is having the facilitator there to keep the discussions on track," he says.

"They make good use of the time. I feel like I can go there, get the information that is presented, see how that input is taken by the other people and hear any comments on it. It’s an efficient use of my time. The facilitator makes sure that one person doesn’t go off on a tangent."

These days, Angle might sit in on the beginning stages of a project, but he has embraced the challenge of owning a business, and says that Aileron instilled the confidence and enthusiasm to do that.

"It was a transition that I had to go through, saying, "OK, I’m not doing that anymore,’ " he says. "I really, really like running the business side, and I like it even more now that I’ve had Aileron there to inspire me and show me that it’s possible to do well.

"Part of the reason is because the business of a company is like a machine: there’s a problem and you find solutions, strategies and all of the components of that."

Sound like Angle has found the perfect tool to help build Force Design for the future. 

Garrigans was built on customer service, but the business model of a single-location office supply shop was becoming an anachronism in the age of big-box stores. The family devised a business plan that helped them compete in today’s economy, but the workload began to take a toll. That’s when Aileron showed them a different way to manage the company.

Julie Garrigan is a nurse. When she became the majority owner of Garrigans, a commercial office products distributor that began as a typewriter repair shop before World War II, it was fortuitous that she had training in triage.

"There is so much overlap between nursing and business," says Garrigan, whose husband, Joe, is the third generation of Garrigans involved in the family business. "You’re taught assessment skills … you’re taught to plan treatment.

"Communication, whether with different departments or physicians, is among a wide variety of cultures. It’s the same in business. Communication is key."

Garrigan didn’t hide behind a closed door when she became more involved in the business in 2003. As she says, "I always had an opinion, so I said sure" when her father-in-law asked if she wanted to join the company.

But having an opinion and communicating it effectively are two different things. "You just keep doing the same thing in your small business and you’re just trying to keep up with the day and keep your people employed and keep everybody engaged," she says. "But you’re just fried."

As a nurse and as a business owner, Garrigan knows that’s not a condition that’s conducive to good work. That knowledge was reinforced during a Tool Talks session entitled "Harness Your Energy to Unleash Your Potential." 

"I think the big takeaway was go ahead and have a day off," Garrigan says. "It reminded me of the need to recharge myself. Working longer hours doesn’t necessarily correlate with getting more done if you are too tired to focus effectively.

"(Plus) your staff is aware that you are totally fried and cranky and that’s not a good thing."

More good things, however, did come from that session. One of the participants explained how they had instituted "huddles," where people from different departments meet briefly with their own agendas to identify and solve problems.

"We started doing that. It’s the operations people and the customer service people and … without super-micromanaging, we came up with this idea to put a micro site on our website so people can order their own custom rubber stamps," Garrigan says.

"It’s a super labor-intensive activity for customer service. It took a whole day to do stamp orders. But they got it all set up and it works like a dream. It has saved us a ton of hours, salary-wise."

Garrigan is fan of Tool Talks for many reasons.

"I went to two on one day," she laughs, "because I couldn’t decide which I needed more. Tool Talks are really neat because it’s an interactive session. They are an hour-and-a-half, so you get to totally absorb the information, but you’re not totally overwhelmed. Or totally over-stimulated.

"There’s time for peer interaction, which is invaluable because people in your shoes are sharing their experiences. (You see) you are not alone, you see there is a way to get better at nearly everything you aspire to do. It is so helpful to learn from others how they have handled (similar) situations effectively."

Garrigan probably can’t imagine it now, but there was a time when Aileron was little more than a dream in her mind. 

"I remember seeing a picture of the Dream Room in the Springfield News-Sun when they opened (the campus in 2008)," she says. "I got kind of choked up, it was bizarre. Then I was out toward Tipp (City) one day, saw Wildcat Road and ended up just going up to the campus.

"They gave me the tour, and when I got to the Dream Room I had a … breakdown, it was ridiculous. I thought, ‘I have to do this, I have to do this.’ And then I realized, ‘I can’t afford it, I can’t afford it.’ But after a few years, I just thought I’m doing it. It was literally the scariest thing I have ever done in my life."

Keep in mind this a former emergency room nurse. Garrigan is not comparing her fear to the life-and-death situations she faced in the hospital, but explaining how difficult it was from her perspective to think about attending programs at Aileron.

"To go to a business place when you are a person without a business background and say, ‘I need help, I’m vulnerable,’ whew, that was tough," she says. 

"I was very, very intimidated … I knew it had to happen, but I didn’t know how to get there. I was afraid I wouldn’t know the proper terminology. I was very much out of my comfort zone."

Garrigan wasn’t the first person who thought she wouldn’t fit in at Aileron and she won’t be the last. But as the reputation of the organization’s inclusive, welcoming atmosphere spreads, it’s likely that more people who might worry will understand that there are no prerequisites. 

Once they pass through the door, they find a community of folks like themselves. 

"The people I’ve met in classes, social events or even from phone calls I made prior to attending the Course for Presidents have led to a network group of sorts," Garrigan says. "The people … are more than willing to share testimonials of their experiences. I called several business owners who had posted videos posted on aileron.org (when I was) trying to make my decision on attending the CFP. Each and every one was immensely helpful.

"There is a huge level of trust among the participants I have crossed paths with. There is a true spirit of service to others there."

And there is no better witness to the spirit of service than a former nurse.

The month after Justin Long bought Reliable Industrial Products from his father in 2008, General Motors, a large customer of the company, closed its operations in Dayton. A month later, another important client, Delphi, left. Long says there were some sleepless nights during that period.

Justin Long and Rodney Bear appear to be somewhat of an odd couple.

Long, the owner and president of Reliable Industrial Products and U.S. Hose & Coupling, is the third generation at the top of Reliable and the founder of U.S. Hose. Bear, hired as a salesman at Reliable by Long’s father, Ron, now holds the title of vice president. That means he was a good salesman, and when Long needed help managing the companies he turned to a trusted consigliere.

What they share, however, is a passion that goes beyond filling the next order at the distribution firms. What was a birthright for Long and a job for Bear has turned into journey that has taken them to some unexpected places together and an enthusiasm to not only grow the business, but make it the best possible destination for both customers and employees.

"I’m not an overly educated guy," Long laughs. "Frankly, you don’t learn in a couple years in college how to run a big company. I’ve never run a hundred-million-dollar business. I don’t know what it takes to run a hundred-million-dollar business. The people at Aileron do. And that is why we started with Aileron. 

"Aileron is a wonderful place just for motivation. You can have a bad day, business can be off, sales can be soft, it’s like taking a right jab and a left hook. And you can go up there (to the campus), and from the statements on the wall to success stories to other customers of Aileron, all of their staff is just remarkable supportive. There are guys there who running huge companies who have the same problems I do."

Bear’s problems were not unusual for someone who had spent his career in one field (sales) and was rewarded for his success by being promoted to another field (management).

"I grew up as a salesman so I wasn’t trained to be a manager when I got there to begin with," Bear says. "Moving into a management position just because you can sell, I learned that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to be skilled at managing as well. Or that knowledge is just going to come directly to you."

Long and Bear credit Aileron for not only showing them how to acquire knowledge, but how to build a network of people to reach out to for knowledge that eludes them. Bear uses Tool Talks as an example of where to look for help when you know you need it.

"I was running into real issues with holding people accountable," he says, which is not unusual for a person who is suddenly put in charge of people he has worked with on more or less an equal footing for years. "We were coming up on forecasting for the next year, and I had just walked out of a quarterly meeting talking about accountability and forecasting and the things I needed to do, and I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?’

"I just happened to pull up an Aileron newsletter and the Tool Talks schedule had those two topics (forecasting and accountability) on it. I immediately called and said, sign me up."

Kismet or divine intervention? Neither man is claiming a higher power at work, although Long says the Aileron approach is certainly not business as usual.

"It took me a couple of years in this (Aileron) process, but I finally started to get it," he says. "You know you do this for a reason. You spend so much time as a company – I’m not saying me or Rodney – but we as a company, we spend so much time with budgets and income statements and trying to get sales numbers. 

"But if we don’t have more of a reason to this than that we are never fulfilled with what we are trying to get. Core values are what we work on extensively now. We’ve been through whole-day meetings about our core values: what we want them to be, how do we communicate this."

The longtime salesman-turned-manager speaks the same language as the boss.

"One of our core values is family," Bear says. " Family is very important to us as a company and as individuals. We want to encourage our people, that if their children have something really important going on in their life to be able to go be a part of that.

"It’s not just the customer experience, it’s the employee experience that is critically important, too. The better experience your employees are having on a daily basis, the better experience they’re having at home, the happier life is all the around. And the better employee they’re going to be."

Bear has become a better employee because he has learned to trust the process.

"I went to those (Tool Talks) not really knowing what to expect," he says. "You can see that I still have my notes from them and the notes that were provided for the sessions. The reason I still have them is because I found them to be valuable.

"There were so many different insights that were shared in that session. It helped bring clarity to things that we were already working on. It affirmed that we were working on the right things, moving in the right direction."

That direction is different from that of the company when Long started in the warehouse and making deliveries in 1996.

"My dad’s dad was a 45-year NCR employee and I was the son of a business owner," he says. "In my dad’s eyes, he exceeded what his father did, in theory, income-wise. He had the sense of accomplishment and was happy with what he did. 

"I want to take that next step. I think that is where my drive comes from. I’m not comfortable with where we are, there is another level that we are trying to get to."

Maybe there is a higher level at work.

Tool Talks are led by business people sharing something that works well for them. There’s no ulterior motive, it’s simply someone saying, "Here’s what I’ve found works well to handle this (problem)."

Scott Knowles is similar to many Aileron clients in many areas. He is a second-generation owner of a family business. His education and training wasn’t in business before he began running the company. And maybe what resonates the most: the world is a different place since his father, Bud Knowles, founded Wolf Creek Co. in 1961.

Jump ahead 40 years, and Scott Knowles was facing a crisis.

"In 2001, I found myself at kind of a roadblock in many aspects of the management of our company," says Knowles, who is president of Wolf Creek. He and his brother, Chris, own the company.

"I was looking (for help). I ran across somebody who said check out Aileron, took the Course for Presidents, and it opened my eyes to several things. I learned how to do professional management much better, which helped me get over my roadblocks that I was running into."

Those roadblocks, while specific to Knowles at Wolf Creek, are not unusual to people who have discovered Aileron.

"I’ll explain it very simply," Knowles says. "I’m an engineer. I was never trained to run a business. Now I found myself – second generation – president of a family business. I didn’t know there were certain ways to do certain things. I didn’t know there were even certain thoughts out there about how to professionally manage a business.

"I was getting caught in all kinds of traps, all kinds of dead-ends. I was trying to plan the future and grow the business and just operate it more profitably. Those were my issues."

Those issues had nothing to do with landscape or turf systems, design and portable piping, the work that goes on at Wolf Creek on a daily basis. Knowles knew that part inside and out. It was his new responsibility – business – that kept him awake at night.

But engineers are smart folks. When faced with a problem that they don’t have the right tool for, they look for a place to find that tool. For Knowles, that was Aileron.

"Aileron exposed me to a whole bunch of people who had experience in everything, or at least some things about running a business professionally. To sum it up, it was like going back to college and getting my master’s degree," says Knowles, who actually did post-graduate work at the University of Nebraska – Omaha. "I didn’t even know that I should have gotten a master’s degree until I connected with them."

Knowles, who has been involved with Aileron since the days it was called the Center for Entrepreneurial Education and met in conference rooms at the Iams facility in Dayton, typifies the company’s mission of paying it forward by having clients share their knowledge and experience.

"I started becoming active as a contributor, and have, hopefully, helped others. That’s a learning experience right there. When you stand up to teach, you really do want to make sure you have all of your ducks in a row.  I’m working on my Ph.D. is how I look at it," he says, laughing.

Even while he teaches, Knowles continues to learn. As he says, you never know where or when you will find something at Aileron that will transform your business. This happened to him at a Tool Talks session.

"(This Tool Talks) was about whiteboarding, holding a meeting using whiteboarding," Knowles says. "I got a lot out of this guy’s method that they hold meetings using whiteboards that has helped improve the quality of meetings.

"They put the time down, keep people on topic, keep people accountable for they said they were going to be doing. As simple as that sounds, (it) really made a difference for me."

Anyone who has ever sat through an interminable  meeting – is there anyone who hasn’t? – would love to know the secret to running an effective and efficient meeting. 

"We have a lot of meetings," Knowles says. "We’re a company that is spread out in eight different cities. Most of our meetings are conference calls, but we do get together and have meetings. But we weren’t having effective meetings, there was a lot of wasted time.

"This has helped me to make sure that our plans were being implemented. Every team has operational plans that we maintain. It helped me actually implement the plan, to make it come alive."

This seems almost too simple to comprehend: How can improving the quality of a meeting have such a dramatic impact on a business?

"It brought our plans to life," Knowles says. "Now it’s not just a piece of paper that’s shoved away and talked about two or three times a year. Now it’s every time we talk. It made everything focused around the plan.

"It’s like that stupid commercial where two people are talking and one says, ‘Did you know you can save this much money in 15 minutes?’ And the other person says, ‘Well, yeah, everyone knew that.’ I felt like the person who says, ‘Hey, did you know?’ I didn’t know. It never hit upon me to do meetings like that."

You never know where people find inspiration. That Knowles found it at a Tool Talks session isn’t unusual, but what turned that inspiration into a valuable tool for Wolf Creek was the fact that Knowles was prepared to see the possibilities when the tool was presented. 

Whiteboards might not be the solution that every company needs to hold effective meetings, but somewhere during these seminars it’s very likely each participant will discover a nugget that will improve an area of performance in their business.

It is never business as usual when a son or daughter joins the family company and is groomed to take over from the previous generation. It can be helpful to seek different perspectives from people who haven’t spent their entire lives together.

Imagine this scenario: You are 27 years old, you have been working in your father’s business for about five years and it’s time to make a decision: Do you want to take over?

Roy Eastman, who founded ElectroShield in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1976, had begun talking about retiring a few years ago. 

Although Nick Eastman has been around the company his entire life, it’s a giant step to go from working for your father to running the business. When he made the decision, he was wise enough to seek counsel.

"About a year ago, I was thinking about what I need to get done for the year," Nick says. "At that point, I decided I was going to take over the business. I knew I needed to start developing a network of people that I could reach out to.

"I talked to a friend who is a web developer … and he told me about Aileron. I checked it out, took the presidents’ course in October, found out this is it, this is perfect."

Eastman and ElectroShield – a distributor of electronic components – fit snugly into the Aileron wheelhouse: a small, family owned business that can benefit from professional management and a network of people who have traveled a similar path in their companies.

"They (Aileron) have been instrumental in pointing us toward goals and helping us achieve that," Nick says. "It has been very (eye-opening) for me. They have prepared me to lead. The network of people that I’ve met is a very, very important thing that I’ve gotten from them."

Defining goals and offering support, both technical and personal, is a good description of the Tool Talks programs. The one that focused on forecasts stands out.

"It happened right when I was in the middle of building a failed forecast," he laughs. "Someone brought in another forecast they had developed for their company. I understood the value of what I was trying to create before, but I got to see the specifics of how you can do it.

"Obviously, we had to do it our own way for our company, but it was all right there in front of us. It was pretty incredible."

That’s the beauty of Tool Talks, which focus on a single topic among a small group. 

"Somebody shows the tool, you ask questions, and it gets opened up to the whole room," Nick says. "There is somebody who has already developed something that is working, they present it, and then there are people like me who are part way through the process, but have more detailed questions.

"That’s Aileron in general. You may be around companies that are selling different stuff, but (the problems) are the same."

Just like the real world.