Matt Ley | Co-founder | IPN Advisors
Matt Ley is the co-founder of IPN Advisors and the author of Manage Your Gaps. He works with leaders and organizations during moments of change and pressure, which he calls inflection points. These are the moments when old systems stop working and new ways of thinking are required. His work is built around the Fulfillment ROI framework, which connects how well an organization runs with how healthy it feels to the people inside it. Through books, workshops, and strategic facilitation, he creates practical tools that help close the distance between intention and action, vision and execution, and people and process. At EliteX, we are proud to have Matt Ley as part of the edition: Trailblazing Influencers & Creators of 2025.
Early in his career, Matt noticed a painful pattern. Many managers were being blamed for problems they did not create and were never trained to fix. He met capable, hardworking people who were tired, confused, and discouraged by unclear expectations, broken systems, and unhealthy work cultures. These were not weak leaders, but strong people stuck in misaligned structures. Writing became his way to serve them. Through words, he could give people language for what they were feeling and help them understand that their struggle was not a personal failure, but a system problem. This became the foundation of Manage Your Gaps and the core of his work today.
When work begins to align with human energy and purpose, both people and performance rise together.
Matt chooses his topics by paying close attention to friction. When clients repeatedly express the same pain, stress, or confusion, he knows there is something important to explore. When a single insight helps a room full of leaders breathe easier, he knows it deserves to be shared more widely. The format follows the purpose. Books allow for depth and reflection. Workshops allow people to apply ideas in real time. Frameworks bring clarity. Short-form content builds momentum. Facilitation creates immediate movement. Everything he creates is designed to support real-world change.
One creative habit that shaped his work deeply is capturing insights the moment they appear. Many of his strongest ideas come from live conversations, especially during moments of honesty in leadership rooms. A single raw statement can become a powerful metaphor or a full framework. Over time, he has learned that creativity is not about constant invention. It is about recognizing patterns, naming them clearly, and helping others see what they may have missed.
Success for Matt is not measured by attention or popularity. At IPN Advisors, success is measured using Fulfillment ROI. This looks at how much energy something takes versus how much value it creates. If leaders walk away from a workshop with more clarity, confidence, and direction than the emotional and time cost they invested, that is success. If a company sees stronger accountability, lower turnover, and more productive meetings, that is success. For him, real success means people experience work differently in their daily lives.
One of the biggest challenges he faces today is that people are overwhelmed. They do not need more information. They need meaning, clarity, and relief. The challenge is to create content that cuts through noise without adding to the noise. Organizational life is complex and emotional. Simplifying it without stripping away its depth takes patience and discipline. This is something he works on constantly.
Matt keeps his audience engaged by focusing on usefulness. Every model, roadmap, and tool is designed to be applied immediately. His goal is not to impress people, but to help them move forward. He also believes deeply in helping people feel seen. Many leaders carry frustrations they struggle to explain. When those feelings are clearly named, trust grows. That trust becomes the foundation of long-term engagement.
In terms of tools, he relies on simple but powerful platforms. Canva helps bring clarity to ideas. Miro supports visual thinking. Zoom expands reach. Whiteboards remain essential for sense-making. But the most important platform is always the room itself. Whether physical or virtual, transformation happens when people feel safe enough to speak honestly about what is working and what is not.
True transformation does not come from being rescued, it comes from being equipped.
Matt does not separate creativity from monetization. Fulfillment ROI guides both. He does not chase money first. He focuses on meaningful impact. When something truly helps people and organizations, it naturally becomes financially sustainable. Companies invest because they feel the difference in their people, processes, and outcomes. In his experience, monetization follows momentum, not the other way around.
One of the most important lessons he learned came from an early mistake. At first, he tried to solve problems for organizations instead of solving them with organizations. While this brought short-term results, it created dependency. Over time, he realized that real transformation only lasts when leaders are equipped, not rescued. This changed how IPN builds everything. Every tool, model, and workshop are designed to develop internal capability so momentum continues long after the engagement ends.
Matt is especially encouraged by a growing shift in leadership and content culture. More people are rejecting hustle culture and embracing sustainability. Emotional health, operational health, and relational health are gaining importance alongside performance. The move away from grinding harder toward working in alignment with strengths reflects the same values that drive organizational health. He believes this alignment will reshape how people create, lead, and grow in the coming years.
For new creators, his guidance is simple and grounded. He believes the strongest work comes from lived experience, not from image or aspiration. The world does not need more polished personas. It needs honest practitioners. He encourages creators to name the gaps they have lived, teach the frameworks they have tested, and share the stories that truly shaped them. When creation begins with truth, it always carries value.
Today, Matt Ley continues to build tools that help leaders navigate pressure with clarity and intention. His work remains focused on one central goal – helping people and organizations close the gaps that keep them stuck, so they can move forward with energy, alignment, and purpose.
Leadership struggles are often not personal failures, but signals of systems that need realignment.