About AiMS
AiMS is the Capacity-Building Management System. Built over 12 years with real leadership teams, grounded in 40 years of Appreciative Inquiry research – and now always on, with AiMS-HQ and AiMEE, our AI guide.
Free 90-minute workshop, Friday, Dec 11, 11am ET, on Zoom. Can’t make Dec 11? We run it live every month.
The disciplines you know. A better way to build them. And a system that never takes a break.
Clear strategy, defined roles, meaningful scorecards and productive meetings all matter. AiMS helps your people build the capacity to run, improve and grow the business together – so your business grows more capable as it grows, instead of more dependent on you.
The AiMS approach. Strengths-based, modern and collaborative. We start with what’s working, and we bring the people closest to the work into the plan. When people help shape the plan, they own it. They’re aligned from the get-go.
AiMS-HQ. Your strategy, priorities, measures and commitments in one place, for everyone on the team – not just the leaders.
AiMEE, our AI guide. AiMEE knows the AiMS approach and your business. It helps every person prep a meeting, build a quarterly plan, work through an issue and learn to lead – at 2pm on a Tuesday or 10pm on a Sunday.
Who it’s for. Business owners and their leadership teams – with a coach or running it yourselves. And the experienced coaches who guide them: AiMS-HQ runs the system. You sell what makes you different.
Every user gets AiMS-HQ, AiMEE and the training library. From $50 per user per month, and less per person as your team grows. Cancel anytime with 30 days’ notice.
I spent 13 years in manufacturing as one of two owners who grew a 600-person company from $200 million to $300 million in less than a year. We had every management discipline the books recommend. But we weren’t improving, and we definitely weren’t growing. Every summer, a few of us would decide the strategy behind closed doors, then spend months selling it. And every year, we’d miss most of our goals.
Then came the toughest moment I ever had as a leader. During a launch for General Motors, our lines couldn’t keep up, and we shut GM down. After three weeks of working around the clock, I came downstairs one Sunday in tears and told my wife I didn’t think I could figure it out. She said, “You’re smart. I know you’ll figure it out.”
That morning it hit me. The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t figure it out. It was that I was trying to figure it out alone.
I called a colleague who’d run plants before. He was there that evening. He didn’t tell us what to do. He pulled together maintenance, engineering and production, and asked, “What do you think we should do?” Within three weeks, the team had reconfigured the lines. The knowledge was in the room all along.
So I went looking for a way to do the same with strategy, and found Appreciative Inquiry. That fall, we built our plan with more than 50 people in the room. They set two goals bigger than anything I would have proposed: win $100 million in new business, and eliminate our five warehouses. We hit both, months ahead of plan.
My next logical thought was, how might we bring these practices into the way we lead every day?
Those two questions, “How do we bring people into creating the plan?”, and “How do we use these practices in everyday leadership?” became the foundation of AiMS. I’ve run over 300 workshops and coached more than 30 companies (and hundreds of leaders) using the approach since. And today, AiMS-HQ and AiMEE, our AI guide, keep that work going between sessions, so growth doesn’t depend on a few people at the top. It becomes the work of everyone in the room.
Jeff Bouwman
Co-Founder & CEO, The AiMS Institute
I’m a Fractional Chief Strategy Officer, which just means I join your leadership team for a few days a month. I do it through Partner with AiMS - Fractional Chief Strategy Officer, an AiMS offering that our coaches can use too.
We help your team decide where to compete, what to prioritize, and what to stop doing. Then we coordinate the change across the company, build the people to deliver it, and sustain its execution.
I set up AiMS-HQ with you, get your team using it, and run the weekly rhythm with you in it. You can call me between sessions. I’d like you to.
Nobody loses their seat. I work alongside your second-in-command, sales lead and HR, and with the system you already run on. My job is to build your team’s capacity, then step back. You shouldn’t need me forever.
I’ve run over 300 workshops and coached more than 30 companies and hundreds of leaders. I’m still convinced the plan only works when the team owns it.
Forty-five minutes, no obligation. We’ll talk about your business and whether this fits.
Results from AiMS engagements
“We brought everyone into the process by engaging with The AiMS Institute, and it was a game changer from the very first session. Jeff doesn’t just design and facilitate – he brings real wisdom and keeps the conversations flowing. Our team owns its quarterly priorities and has built real leadership capacity. By involving the team, we set goals bigger than I would have on my own, with a clear plan to hit them – and we did. We tripled in size, and I went on to sell the company to the team through an ESOP.”
The same disciplines. A different way to build them.
There’s value in the things on the right. We just value the things on the left more.
And on SOAR, the strengths-based approach to strategy co-created by our own Dr. Jackie Stavros.
Appreciative Inquiry is simple at heart: start from what’s already working, and build on it. SOAR – Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations and Results – brings that thinking to strategy, so more people help shape where the business goes.
Meet Dr. Jackie Stavros. Jackie is a co-creator of SOAR and a University Distinguished Professor of Management at Lawrence Technological University. She’s an advisor for the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry, with more than 30 years of experience in more than 25 countries. Her doctoral research was on capacity building using an appreciative approach – the same idea at the heart of AiMS.
Jackie is a best-selling author. Her latest book, The SOAR Effect, written with Ally Stavros, shows how shared strategy transforms results at every level. It’s out May 11, 2027 from Berrett-Koehler, and you can preorder it now.
Teams that have worked with AiMS
Organizations that have used SOAR
Business owners, operators and researchers. We’ve built and run businesses ourselves.
Based in Cleveland, Ohio.
Co-Founder & CEO
Partner with AiMS - Fractional Chief Strategy Officer
Jeff is a certified Appreciative Inquiry Practitioner, CPA, author, speaker and executive coach with over 25 years of senior leadership experience. He was one of two owners who grew a 600-person company from $200 million to $300 million in less than a year. Today he joins leadership teams as a Fractional Chief Strategy Officer through Partner with AiMS. He has run over 300 workshops and coached more than 30 companies and hundreds of leaders.
Co-Founder & Strategic Advisor
Jackie is a co-creator of SOAR, a strengths-based approach to strategic planning, a University Distinguished Professor of Management at Lawrence Technological University and an advisor for the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry.
Her latest book: The SOAR Effect (preorder, out May 11, 2027)
Co-Founder & Strategic Advisor
Scot is an entrepreneur, investor and mentor in entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA). He’s helped more than 65 people achieve the dream of business ownership.
EVP Technology
Jason is a mentor and leadership coach with over 25 years of experience in supply chain, technology, manufacturing and consulting.
“I’ve worked with Jeff Bouwman and The AiMS Institute since 2025, and it’s been one of the best investments we’ve made at B&B Electric. Jeff didn’t just coach me – he pulled my whole leadership team into our planning sessions and weekly calls, and it’s changed how we work together. Our team is taking on more ownership and building real leadership capacity. By involving the team, we’ve set goals bigger than I would have set on my own, and they are helping us hit them.
And now, AiMS-HQ keeps us on track between calls and planning sessions. If you’re a business owner who wants a stronger team and a clear path to bigger goals (without working harder yourself), I’d recommend Jeff without hesitation.”
For business owners and leadership teams
Give your whole team a management system they own. Always on, with AiMEE helping every person plan, decide and act.
For experienced coaches and consultants
AiMS-HQ runs the system. You sell what makes you different. Spend your time on the judgment and relationships only you can bring.
Start with a conversation, or come see it live.
Talk with us. Forty-five minutes, no obligation. We’ll talk about your business and whether AiMS fits – and if it’s not a fit, we’ll tell you first.
Or see it live. Join me backstage on Friday, December 11 at 11am ET for a free 90-minute live workshop on Zoom. I’ll show you how AI and AiMS-HQ actually run a business’s management system, and how your team can carry more. Can’t make Dec 11? We run it live every month.
Jeff Bouwman, CEO
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