For CEOs — something is off

CEO — something feels wrong, off, sluggish to run. You can't quite name it. But the feeling won't go away.

Every number you're being fed is a lagging indicator of what has already happened. The dashboard says revenue and EBIT are fine — until they aren't. What your instincts are feeling is the Slow Bleed.

45 years in boardrooms — global sales, turnarounds, integrations, buyouts — and it's always the same. The board reviews data nobody owns. They step back. They look at the CEO. The ball passes to you. You didn't create the numbers — so you'd better start validating them on your own terms.

Buy the book → Read the diagnosis
Hardback · Paperback · 304 pages · 16 chapters · 16 working tools
The Slow Bleed book cover
Foreword
"It is practical. Direct. Sometimes uncomfortable. But importantly, it is written by someone who has actually had to make these decisions in real environments where cash flow, customers, politics and execution collide."
Ian Wright · CEO & Founder, VirtualNonExecs.com
Plugged into 70,000 board members, CEOs, Chairs and NEDs
You feel it before the accounts show it

Decisions slow down. Customers become harder work. Sales cycles stretch. Meetings multiply. Everyone looks busy, but the business is wading through mud.

It's a velocity problem

You cannot cost-cut your way into growth, or workshop your way into commercial relevance. What matters is how fast you turn customer intent into cleared cash.

Tools, not theory

Forty-five years of what actually worked — distilled into diagnostics, calculators, templates and a 100-day plan you run against your own numbers.

Inside the book

Five moves, sixteen chapters

Read it once end to end, then keep it on the desk and work the tools.

PART I
See it
The slow bleed, knowing yourself, and what it's not.
PART II
Understand it
The 80/20 truth, Cash Conversion Velocity, Order-to-Cash.
PART III
Remove it
The ERP trap, function blockers, the big shift, transformation myths.
PART IV
Build it
The sales function, the operating model, large complex deals.
PART V
Lead it
Metrics and insight, and the CEO as Chief Flow Officer.
Hear his voice · The approach

Nick, in ninety seconds

Book Nick as a podcast guest →
From the desk · Substack

Writing for CEOs who feel it

All articles on Substack →
Essay · The mandate
You Already Have the Title
Chief Flow Officer isn't a new job. It's the one you accepted the moment you became CEO — whether you've owned it or not.
Read on Substack →
Essay · The feeling
The Fear Every CEO Has
The quiet worry that the numbers on the dashboard don't match the feeling in the building — and what to do about it.
Read on Substack →
Nick Ayton
About Nick Ayton

Fixing operating models — the Cash Conversion Velocity™ problem

Not a consultant. A practitioner. Four decades inside operating businesses — restructuring, building, and fixing the cash-conversion problems the Big 4 charge you millions to diagnose and then leave you to solve.

He has run global sales, led hundred-million-pound turnarounds and post-merger integrations, and helps founders, owners and CEOs enter the Middle East — working with businesses across the UAE and UK who need their cash cycle fixed, not theorised about.

The Slow Bleed is the book he wishes someone had handed him 40 years ago.

Get the book

Start finding the bleed today

Published by Redline Press · theslowbleed.co.uk

Beyond the book · The Vault

Put the tools to work on your own numbers

Every diagnostic and calculator from the field guide — live, saved to your account, and applied to your own numbers. Every copy of the book carries a code that unlocks the full toolkit — no subscription.

See the tools → Redeem your book code
The Slow Bleed
Why Your Business Is Losing Cash — and It's Not a Sales Problem
The CEO Field Guide

First published in Great Britain in 2026 by Redline Press · www.theslowbleed.co.uk

© Nick Ayton 2026. All rights reserved.

Trademark notice

Cash Conversion Velocity™, CCV™, and The Slow Bleed™ are trademarks of Nick Ayton. Application for registered trademark status has been made to the UK Intellectual Property Office.

Proprietary methodology and licensing

Permitted use: Individual readers may use the tools for their own internal business purposes.

Restricted use: No part of the CCV™ methodology may be incorporated into any commercial training, consulting, or advisory service without written licence.

Licensing: Contact Redline Press

ISBN 978-1-0666374-4-7 (Hardback) · 978-1-0666374-1-6 (Paperback) · 978-1-0666374-0-9 (eBook) · 978-1-0666374-2-3 (Audio)

Published by Redline Press · Cover design by Nick Ayton · Typeset in Great Britain