About This Website
This website is a repository of the intellectual property created by Bill Matthews over a long career focused on helping privately held businesses. The copyrights for all of these materials have been assigned to The WOW Business Advisory, LLC, where Bill is the sole shareholder.
If you have received a project number and password to view specific content, click on "PROJECTS" at the top of this page, select the project number, and then enter your password to access the content.
This is also the home of four turnkey programs that are now available for review by potential licensees who have been granted password access. Additional information is included below.
Background Information
Bill Matthews began his career as a full-time high school teacher and football coach while completing his graduate degree. He later served as an executive and officer for a "Fortune 500" company and President of a financial services organization before he helped establish Aileron (www.aileron.org), a not-for-profit organization that has provided guidance to thousands of privately held businesses since 1996. Made possible by the generosity of the late Clay Mathile, Aileron operates from a 100+ acre campus near Dayton, Ohio, and has been featured nationally by Fox Business News and Forbes Magazine.
After retiring, Bill became a prolific creator of intellectual property designed to help privately held businesses create jobs and enhance communities by implementing management best practices in three areas: implementing professional management systems, preparing organizations for ownership transition, and creating Boards of Advisors. Those are the areas of focus in the "Major Programs" section below.
Through a licensing arrangement, some of Bill's professional management content is now being delivered under a private label by Sandler Systems, the world's largest management and sales training company, and is also incorporated in "The Road to Excellence," a book written by Sandler's David Mattson.
In addition, portions of his intellectual property are being used in college/university Entrepreneurship programs, in the rehabilitation of inmates who would like to start their own businesses after being released from incarceration, and in the APEX 100 professional management system to improve performance and efficiency in the Orthotics and Prosthetics industry.
Bill has served on the boards of many privately held businesses and not-for-profit organizations. He's a past member of the University of Dayton's Crotty Advisory Council that provides guidance to the University's Entrepreneurship initiatives, as well as Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity.
In addition to the four major programs below, his works include numerous articles, white papers, and videos, as well as three books. Five P's to a "WOW!" Business and Don't Step in the Entremanure are both published by Sound Wisdom. The third, Your Next Checkered Flag: The Ultimate Joy Ride, is an E-book focused on planning for your own legacy, and is downloadable for free at the bottom of this page.
Major Programs
The major programs are described briefly below, and are also listed in the menu at the top of this page. If you would like to review any of these programs in detail, the content can be accessed with a password. To get a password, please contact us.
The Five P Management System is a simple, sequential, repeatable process that's delivered by a facilitator to the leadership team of an organization over a period of months. Depicted graphically as a Racetrack, the model begins with an objective assessment of the business to get a baseline score and identify areas needing attention. The same assessment tool is used periodically to monitor progress. After each lap around the Racetrack, the company begins a new lap to continue on the path to peak performance. The content is also used for monthly, facilitator-led "Five P Leadership Circles."
Drive My Biz to WOW is an online, on-demand, do-it-yourself version of The Five P Management System. It consists of dozens of videos and accompanying exercises, and allows business owners and their leadership teams to implement The Five P System at their own pace. The program is also a valuable tool to a facilitator who has delivered The Five P System in-person, and would like to make the videos and exercises available to clients for reference after implementation. Some facilitators also use the videos as a self-training tool, or incorporate them into portions of their facilitated sessions with clients.
"Strategic Business Succession: The Handoff" is designed for business owners who are preparing to transition the ownership of their businesses, and are willing to make the necessary changes that will increase value by implementing some proven best practices. The program is led by a qualified facilitator who works directly with the owner(s) of the business over a period of weeks or months, depending upon the situation. The facilitator is aided by a Leader's Guide, Presentation Slides, a Participant Workbook with Exercises, and an additional tool to help each owner in planning his or her own legacy.
In addition to implementing the Five P System of professional management, one of the most effective ways to avoid the "entremanure" and drive top business performance is to create a Board of Advisors - it's the gift that keeps on giving! Unfortunately, there are a number of common mistakes that are made in forming a Board of Advisors. This program includes "how to" videos and tools that will help a business owner in creating his or her own Board of Advisors, in running effective meetings, and in finding highly qualified Board Members who can provide the specific expertise to help the organization overcome weaknesses and take advantage of strategic opportunities.